Play The Game Poem by Jessie Pope
Play The Game
Twenty-Two stalwarts in stripes and shorts
Kicking a ball along,
Set in a square of leather-lunged sports
Twenty-two thousand strong,
Some of them shabby, some of them spruce,
Savagely clamorous all,
Hurling endearments, advice or abuse,
At the muscular boys on the ball.
Stark and stiff 'neath a stranger's sky
A few hundred miles away,
War-worn, khaki-clad figures lie,
Their faces rigid and grey
Stagger and drop where the bullets swarm,
Where the shrapnel is bursting loud,
Die, to keep England safe and warm
For a vigorous football crowd !
Football's a sport, and a rare sport too,
Don't make it a source of shame.
To-day there are worthier things to do.
Englishmen, play the game!
A truce to the League, a truce to the Cup,
Get to work with a gun,
When our country's at war we must all back up
It's the only thing to be done!
An awesome tribute to the game of football, The English people and the soldiers who are always on their toes- ready to sacrifice their lives to ensure safety and security of their country. Thanks.
It's a nationalistic and patriotic arousing poem, specifically addressing our less regarded heroes soldiers and footballers who all acclaims respect and pride of our nations, great.
When she says PLAY THE GAME, she's really saying COME JOIN THE ARMY! It's a call to war, not to a game of football.
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she used propaganda to make war seem like a game witch is a very sick thing to do
In peace or war, such words never more worthy to be said and heard.
Football and war the topics of one poem. Let me ponder the vagaries of man that they appear in the same poem together
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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9/24/2023 11:30:04 AM # 1.0.0.1113
Nice work with the muse of a game. Thanks for sharing this poem with us.