Vitai Lampada and Who's for the Game compareson

“Vitai Lampada” and “Who’s for the Game?” are both poems about war. Vitai Lampada is about a colonial war and Who’s for the Game is about WW1. Who’s for the game is trying to persuade people into joining the army. Vitai Lampada is looking back on how being in the army is. WE have studied the poems in class, and found they are similar in ways, although also different in many ways. There are six ways that the poem will be compared in: subject, tone, style, aim, language and effect. “Who’s for the Game?” was written by Jesse Pope, and “Vitai Lampada” was written by Dir Henry Newbolt.
Firstly, you can see the differences and similarities in the subject of the poems. The poems both are about a war, of course. Both of the poems are about a game, the glorious game of war. “Vitai Lampada” then goes on about the battlefield itself. “Who’s for the Game?”, however, is only making the war look good and glorious, something to look forward to.
Another way the poems can be compared is through the tone or voice they have. The voice of a poem really means who is talking in the poem. In “Who’s for the Game?” a mother is trying to encourage her son to go and join the army, because it was right to serve your country, and that if you would not go everyone will think you are scared. The mother is saying that everything will be okay, and that you would highly come back with a crutch. In “Vitai Lampada”, perhaps an old sergeant or an old important army man is speaking. He is speaking about a cricket game, and trying to get young men to “play the game”. He is saying that the young men have been trained to go out and “Play up, play up, play the game”, of war. Both the poems are mostly in a happy tone, but on other parts of the poem “Vitai Lapmada” the tone changes, for example in the second verse of it the mood changes to sadder and more exiting.
Also the style is comparable between the two poems. Both of the poems are set out in verses, with short lines, “Who’s for the Game?” having a bit less long lines than “Vitai Lampada”. The poems are also both written in rhymes. “Who’s for the Game?” has the rhyme scheme of: ABAB, ABAB, and so on for the other two verses. It keeps a constant rhyme. “Vitai Lampada” has a more complex rhyme scheme, that of : ABABCDCD, for all of the verses. Both the poems keep their rhyme schemes the same in all of the verses. “Who’s for the Game” has the first three verses asking questions , about the same subject. In the last(forth) verse it changes and tells the reader more facts. In “Vitai Lampada” the subject of each verse is different. “Vitai Lampada” has a quick rhythm which has doos effect on the idea of the game, the circket match.
The language used by the poems is another way you van compare the two. In the poem “Vitai Lampada” there are difficult words, a lot more than in “Who’s for the Game?”. For example: sodden, Gatling, regiment, etc. Also “Vitai Lampada” has a lot of metaphors, for example, “Bear through life like a torch in flame”. Both of the poems are talking about a match. This covers the real and tough and harsh idea of war, although “Vitai Lampada” doesn’t only do that, it also goes on and speaks about war itself. As said before, “Who’s for the Game?” asks questions, to try and make the people who are being persuaded think about the questions.
The next subject that will be compared is the aim. The aim of the poem “Who’s for the Game?” is to get young men into the army, it does this by saying things about that people are supposed to serve and if they do not they are scared, for example, “Who’ll grip and tackle the job unafraid? And who thinks he’d rather sit tight?”. This effects the reader by a lot, making him feel that he must serve or be laughed at, be dubbed as scared. In “Vitai Lampada”, Sir Henry Newbolt wants to bring his view of war across in a defined manner. He does this by his strong writing skills and use of language.
Lastly, the effect of the poem is important to think about, as it shows if the poem is good or not. The two both give a hard effect. “Who’s for the Game?” is very persuasive. The aim of the poem was reached, the poem really persuades people to go out and fight other countries. “Vitai Lampada” also has a strong impact on people, as Sir Newbolt’s view on war is clearly put out in the 3 verses of the poem.
I think the poems are similar in many ways. Some ways they differ and are similar are the subject, tone, style, aim, language and effect. Looking at these you can know just about anything about the poems, and how they relate.