Writing to compare

We had read two poems in class, called ‘Vitai lampada’ by Sir Henry Newbolt and ‘Who’s for the game’ by Jesse pope. Both of the poems are written quite similarly. I would like to compare these two poems by focusing on the subject, purpose, tone, style, use of language and the effectiveness. By comparing you can see interesting similarities and differences between them.

Firstly the subject of both of the poems is the same. Both of the poems are written about the war although they are both written about different wars which took place at different times. ‘Who’s for the game’ is written about the First World War and ‘Vitai lampada’ is about a war which took place at the end of the 19th century. Both of these poems are written in a way that portrays the war as game.

The second area to compare is the purposes of the poems which are in some ways different because ‘Who’s for the game?’ is written to persuade men to go to the war and it has a way of encouraging the men to go and fight in the war for example when it says ‘Who’ll grip and tackle the job unafraid? And who thinks he’d rather sit tight?’ by reading this sentence if someone was not involved in the war they would feel ashamed of themselves. ‘Vitai lampada’ is describing what it was like in the war and what it looked like in the eyes of a soldier, and shows that the soldiers were very brave and loyal for example when it says ‘And it is not for the sake of a ribboned coat, or the selfish hope of a season’s fame, but him Captain’s hand on his shoulder smote.’ This shows that the soldiers really only needed the trust of their Captain.

Another topic to compare is the tone in which the poems are written. ‘Who’s for the game?’ sounds very exciting and encouraging. ‘Vitai lampada’ sounds adventurous and quite exciting but in a mysterious way for example, ‘There’s a breathless hush in the Close to-night.’ This sentence makes the reader curious and right away gives you a good image of the time of the day that the ‘war’ is taking place. The tone of both poems is different because of the different purposes of the two poems.

Another area worth considering is the style in which the poems are written of the poems. Both of the poems are written in verses and rhyme. Although ‘who’s for the game?’ has a question in almost each verse as it does in the title itself but ‘vitai lampada’ is much more descriptive and is structured a little differently. As in ‘Vitai lampada’ the beat goes a,b,a,b,c,d,c,d, on the other hand ‘Who’s for the game’ the beat is only a,b,a,b, it looks like this beat has been used because of the language being used.

Yet another area to compare is the use of language. In ‘Who’s for the game’ no imagery or descriptive writing has been used. It is not telling you anything about the war either. The language used is almost similar to mocking the reader for example, ‘who would much rather come back with a crutch than lie low and be out of the fun?’ No similes or metaphors are used as it is not that type of poem. Although in ‘Vitai lampada’ which as mentioned before is very descriptive, there are also quite a lot of metaphors and similes used which gives a clearer image for example ‘The sand of the desert is sodden red’ this sentence may be suggesting that there was blood on the ground of the desert.

Finally the area to compare is the effectiveness of the two poems on the reader. The poems achieve its purposes quite well. 'who’s for the game' is very persuasive, in the matter of sending the men to war and because of the language used if they would not go it would make them look like a coward.’Vitai lampada’ proves to the reader that the soldiers were very brave and that the war was very similar to playing any other game such as cricket. For example ‘Ten to make and the match to win, A bumping pitch and a blinding light, an hour to play and the last man in.’ after reading this, if the reader did not know it was about the war, they would think the poem was about some game being played.

To conclude, after comparing the subject, purpose, tone, style, use of language and the effectiveness of the two poems you can see that the poems are written in quite different ways. Although the subject of both of the poems was the same because of the different purposes the style in which the poems were written was bound to have many differences.