War Poems

By Jessie Pope

Book Overview

Looking back from the perspective of 2014, it is easy to dismiss Jessie Pope's versified jingoism as a glib call to patriotism and as a facile celebration of the stereotypical British character: brave, stoical and essentially benevolent - reluctantly going to war to teach Germany a lesson. However, insofar as they capture the public mood at the start of the First World War - a mood they helped to create, of course - they are valuable documents. Her derogatory comments against Germany and Germans in general were part and parcel of the propaganda of the day - produced in great quantities by the popular press. Similarly, her assumptions about the inherent superiority of the British race - while ridiculous - have to be seen in the context of Great Britain's Empire, the largest the world has ever seen. Moreover, reading Jessie Pope's poems provides us with a context in which to read the poetry of Owen, Sassoon and Rosenberg. Indeed, an early draft of Owen's "Dulce et Decorum Est" was subtitled (in Owen's own handwriting) "To a Certain Poetess": there is a consensus that Owen is referring to Jessie Pope. When we read Pope's poems, we can understand the vehemence of the later war poetry, as it is partly a reaction against early propaganda verse like this.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1500363162
• ISBN13: 9781500363161
• Release Date: July 2014
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 44 Pages
• Weight: 0.16 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"