Compare And Contrast Anzac And Who's For The Game By Jessie Pope

The two poems ‘Anzac’ by John Brereton and ‘Who's for the Game?’ by Jessie Pope are both written around the time of World War I. The two poems contain both differences and similarities in how they convey attitudes to war some ways that this is achieved are language, structure and the themes of the poems.
One way the two poems differ is in the theme and tone of the poems. In Jessie Pope’s poem she has produced war propaganda which is designed to encourage people to go to war. This means that she is unlikely to talk negatively about war. As shown in the poem by the quotation ‘who’ll toe the line for the signal to ‘go’?’ This implies that the war is a race because the signal ‘go’ is often associated with the start of a race. Furthermore, the

quotation ‘toe the line’ this is often used to describe the moment before a race where the athletes are waiting to start. Therefore, this quotation implies a sense of excitement as they can’t wait to go. This is an example of propaganda poetry which explains why Pope has compared War to an exciting race as she is try to encourage people to join the army. As Jessie Pope is a woman she will not have fought in the war so she is not a reliable source for what the war actually looked like. On the other hand John Brereton’s poem ‘Anzac’ portrays the war in a more depressing tone. An example of this is ‘within my heart I hear a cry.’ This example suggests damage to health, represented by the heart. The poem ‘Anzac’ is also written by a male who fought in the war so this is account of how he felt during his experience of the war. As you can see the poems differ significantly in theme and tone while ‘who’s for the game?’ shows Pope being positive about the war, shown by the patriotism in the poem whereas in ‘Anzac’ Brereton portrays a negative image of war suggesting he disliked his involvement in it.
A further way the two poems differ is in structure.

‘Who's for the Game?’ is 15 lines while ‘Anzac’ is 22 lines. This may be a metaphor as Brereton might be suggesting, in his poem ‘Anzac’, that the war is long. Whereas ‘Who's for the Game?’ is a much shorter poem suggesting that Pope was trying to show that the war will be short and over soon which fits with propaganda as more people will be happy to fight if they think the war will be over soon. These two poems also have different rhyme schemes with ‘Who's for the Game?’ using an ABAB rhyme scheme, rhyming words every other line, while ‘Anzac’ uses an AABB rhyme scheme, rhyming words in pairs. The rhyme scheme in ‘Who's for the Game?’ rhymes lines that are associated with bravery such as ‘who’ll give his country a hand?’ with lines that imply fear ‘and who wants a seat in the stand?’ This technique makes the reader compare the two options with the bravery on obviously being sensationalised to encourage people to join the war. However one similarity between the two poems is that they are both one long stanza. As you can see the two poems differ in rhyme scheme and length which means that they can create different tones to the

poem.
A third way that the two poems contrast is in the language used.

While in the poem ‘Who's for the Game?’ by Jessie Pope euphemistic language is used, which can be illustrated by the description of war as a ‘show.’ This is an example of euphemistic language as shows are form of entertainment that many aspire to perform in. Furthermore, shows are often associated with glamour and luxurious lifestyles. This shows how the poet wants to portray this poem has fun for everybody. This shows how Pope feels that war is an enjoyable experience which is family friendly like most shows. Additionally, the poet uses multiple poetic techniques such as personal address ‘And she’s calling for you.’ The poet also uses other techniques such as metaphors, by describing the war as a game. The use of these techniques show how Pope wishes to spread the message, war is great, to all those around her. On the other hand the poem ‘Anzac’ by John Brereton uses dysphemistic language to create a depressing atmosphere. This can be illustrated by the quotation ‘Their own hearts drummed them to the fight.’ This example shows how John feels that the war was scary. This is implied by the fact that a heart beating hard against the chest, like a drum, is a reaction often associated with fear and anxiety. In addition to this Brereton also uses other poetic techniques such as onomatopoeia shown by the quotation ‘clang’, assonance which can be illustrated by this quotation ‘noble hope’ and repetition depicted by

the quotation ‘Praise, praise’ as well as many other examples. Overall it is clear to see how the contrast in language helps to convey the two poets conflicting views. While on one hand ‘Who's for the Game?’ uses personal address and euphemistic language to create a more speech like poem that advocates war showing how Pope was pro-war. On the other hand ‘Anzac’ uses metaphors and dysphemistic language to depict what he saw this exemplifies how Brereton was anti-war.
‘Anzac’ and ‘Who's for the Game?’ present the attitudes of the poets to war in very different ways. This is largely to do with the purposes of the poems with Pope producing propaganda which explains why she is so positive towards war because the better she is able to depict war the more likely they are to join the war and Brereton’s poem is designed to inform the public of what the war was actually like from someone who experienced it therefore it’s his opinion of the war. As you can see these are two very diverse poems albeit with some structural similarities.