Who’s for the game, the biggest that’s played,
The red crashing game of a fight?
Who’ll grip and tackle the job unafraid?
And who thinks he’d rather sit tight?
Who’ll toe the line for the signal to ‘Go!’?
Who’ll give his country a hand?
Who wants a turn to himself in the show?
And who wants a seat in the stand?
Who knows it won’t be a picnic – not much-Yet eagerly shoulders a gun?
Who would much rather come back with a
Than lie low and be out of the fun?
Come along, lads –But you’ll come on all right –For there’s only one course to pursue,
Your country is up to her neck in a fight,
And she’s looking and calling for you.
There is a lot of controversy about this World War 1 poem.
Please try to consider it in the light of national feelings in the UK at the time when it was written.
It is unfair to judge it out of context.
It should also be compared with Owen's poem which was, in part, a response to Pope and similar writers at that time.
Try to use the comments space for a critique of the poem as a piece of poetry and use the forum threads to discuss your own feelings on war.
Why not start with
