The Call - Notes from Class

The call - notes from class The poem is aimed at young men trying to get them to enlist – volunteer for the war. Her intention is to glorify war and fighting for your country and make the readers feel that they are cowards if they do not enlist.

Laddie – colloquial word meaning young man – used to directly speak to audience

Reptition laddie are you my laddie – to reinforce to the young men that it is them who need to consider the message of the poem. Rhyme tranch with French aba

Reinforces the message contained in the words – going to the trenches to fight just ike the French

Rhet question who’s going out to win. Juxtaposed with who wants to save his skin this forces the young men to decide/choose to be a hero or a coward pope’s message is very clear

YOU – inclusive language

The paragraph The Call by Jessie Pope aims to recruit young men to join the army in WW1. She does this by glorifying war and attempts to show the men that fighting for your country is a good thing while those who decide not to enlist are cowards. She uses a variety of poetic devices to achieve her intentions. Firstly, she makes it clear who her audience is by the use of the colloquial word ‘laddie’ and the use of the inclusive ‘you’. Laddie means ‘young man’ so the young men who read this poem will know it is them she is asking to join up. The ‘you makes it personal to the man who is reading it, he message of the poem is directed personally at him. The poem’s rhetorical questions are very effective in getting the men to think about joining the war. ‘Are you my laddie” with its positive feelings of ‘the trench’ is juxtaposed with the negative ‘would you, my laddie’ which follows ‘wait a bit’. The men are forced to choose between being a hero by saying yes or being seen as a coward by saying no. The sense of guilt Pope tries to engender in the negative lines such as ‘who wants to save his skin’ leaves the readers little choice about choosing what they should do. Finally, these feelings are continually reinforced through the repetition of the questions, the second person ‘you’ and the colloquial ‘laddie’.