Comparing the Representations:
These two poems could not be more different in their representations of war. Dulce et Decorum Est is inhabited by creatures of hell, Who’s For The Game by cheering crowds. Jessie Pope’s poem features a games a sport, and Wilfred Owens’s a man dying a slow, loud and painful death. One poem speaks of a kind of glory only found in the dreams of the young, and the other speaks of unceasing nightmares through which one watches helplessly as their friend dies.
Yet both speak of the same war.
The contrast may be a quandary, but the reason for the difference is obvious. Wilfred Owen spent time in the trenches of World War 1, and Jessie didn’t. Owen held a gun, and Pope a pen. Jessie Pope attended marching parades, and Owen dug his friend’s graves.
Wilfred Owen and Jessie Pope experience the same war in two very different ways. However, Pope’s poem encapsulated the era’s culture, and WIlfred Owen rebuked it.
Yet both speak of the same war.
The contrast may be a quandary, but the reason for the difference is obvious. Wilfred Owen spent time in the trenches of World War 1, and Jessie didn’t. Owen held a gun, and Pope a pen. Jessie Pope attended marching parades, and Owen dug his friend’s graves.
Wilfred Owen and Jessie Pope experience the same war in two very different ways. However, Pope’s poem encapsulated the era’s culture, and WIlfred Owen rebuked it.