Comparing “Dulce Et Decorum Est” and “Who’s for the Game?”

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“Dulce et decorum est” and “Who’s for the game?” In comparing the two war poems by Jessie Pope and Wilfred Owen I have analysed the ways they have presented war. The poems have very different opinions on the Great War, “Dulce et decorum est “is against the war and the injustice of it all whereas “Who’s for the game”, is a recruitment poem. At the time Jessie wrote ‘Who’s for the game’ she couldn’t do any research on the war, due to the media and propaganda, also with being a women with no experience in the war it was hard for her to know the harsh reality. ‘Who’s for the game’ was written with the intent of trying to enlist more men for the war as Pope believed that all men should stand up and fight for their country. However ‘Dulce et decorum est’ has a different view on war, it was written in response to ‘Who’s for the game’ and it was written to show Jessie Pope and the rest of the public that war isn’t at all glorious and it’s not patriotic to fight for their country, both poems have used metaphors and pronouns to portray these ideas. In ‘Who’s for the game’ this metaphor is used “And who wants a seat in the stand?” This is extended from the actual name of the poem ‘Who’s for the game’. These two metaphors relate war to a game, which makes war sound almost light-hearted and not as serious. People relate games to being fun; therefore making people expect war to be fun when in reality this is glorified. Due to Jessie’s purpose of wanting to enlist more men to join the war, she uses pronouns to directly appeal to the reader. ‘And she’s looking and calling for you’ The pronouns make the poem sound like it is written personally for you almost requesting you to join the military, making the poem very personal as Pope addresses each young man individually. ‘Dulce et decorum est’ is set out in several blocks, the layout of the poem creates a more serious atmosphere

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