'There's the girl who clips your ticket for the train,
And the girl who speeds the lift from floor to floor,
There's the girl who does a milk-round in the rain,
And the girl who calls for orders at your door.
Strong, sensible, and fit,
They're out to show their grit,
And tackle jobs with energy and knack.
No longer caged and penned up,
They're going to keep their end up
'Til the khaki soldier boys come marching back.
There's the motor girl who drives a heavy van,
There's the butcher girl who brings your joint of meat,
There's the girl who calls 'All fares please!' like a man,
And the girl who whistles taxi's up the street.
Beneath each uniform
Beats a heart that's soft and warm,
Though of canny mother-wit they show no lack;
But a solemn statement this is,
They've no time for love and kisses
Till the khaki soldier boys come marching back.
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In my opinion the poem is littered with such devices. Each of the 4 opening lines is designed to get readers empathising with the poet by focussing on people/types that they are aware of. The poet has deliberately chosen uniformed people so as to establish a link with the troops.
There is also the repeated ending to each stanza
'Til the khaki soldier boys come marching back.
Which, of course, most of the readers are longing for.
Note the difference in emphasis between this poem and Who's for the game. One trying to make people feel good about the soldiers going to war and one trying to make people able to put up with the loss caused by people going to war.
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Jessie Pope
From guest Masina Faletolu (contact)
I've just recently studied Jessie Popes poems and I personally enjoy them.My ebglish teacher despises her for she claims her poems had killed men at war... I think this proves how good a poet is..Her poems affect the reader majorly...But i still feel saddened that it caused men to have to join the army or they wer labeled as cowards...Shes a good and bad poet I would say...LOL...Confusing really..hahaha -
Hardly.
From guest TheKrill (contact)
I think this over jingoistic and equally over-hyped poem is horribly patronising,i agree, Pope must have been brave to publish works like this at a time when Suffragettes were trampled by horses but i can't help but cringing at the terrible way it is written. The fact that she is trying to show how intelligent and independent women are is undermined by the eye-wateringly bad thoughts of 'mother-wit' and 'heart that's soft and warm' and also undermined when her so called feminist message is stamped over by the thoughts of no love or kisses 'till the khaki soldier boys come marching back'. I have to analyse this poem for my essay and comparing it to such works from Brooke, this poem is inadequate. Only linguistic device? 'All fares please! like a man,'. Girls, i think ole' Jessie is letting the side down for us. -
From guest ellieandchloe (contact)
I think that this poem is very good. It is not just telling you about the boys in the war, but about the girls and what they do to. -
Pope's poem still serves to remind us that for every conscripted or volunteer combatant overseas there is someone left behind to keep the wheels turning and often that was the women!
On the whole they didn't moan or fuss they simply took up the reins and did what had to be done until the khaki soldiers returned. In fact their actions hastened the move for equality which hopefully will soon be one battle we no longer need to fight. -
War Girls - a poem frozen in Time
I remember my mother musing over the impact of the end of World War 2 upon some of her "girlfriends" who were celebrating the occasion. There was lots of hard liquor being consumed and it wasn't long before the girls became greatly depressed by the thought of losing their good jobs at a major publisher to the men who would be returning from the battlefields.
This poem shows respect for women's ability to do the work of men during war time, but no sympathy for their need to continue such work after war time.
Charley Noble -
I remember the 2nd World War and the fact that able bodied men went off to fight for king and country while many of the women took over some very manual and demanding jobs for the duration. Not all were faithful and true to their spouses overseas but a great many were. I think this is an excellent poem as it does show just how much the female of the species was actually involved in fighting battles on the home front and freeing the men for the shooting and other violent actions. I admire the many women who served their country at home amid loneliness and heartbreak, and rationing.
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This is a good history telling. Tho I don't remember any of the world wars I imagine them to be something just like this. Great job with the write.
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During both 1st and 2nd World Wars women were placed in a situation so strange to them. Moreso I feel in 1914 as women were treated so blatantly as inferior to men. by 1918 they had worked for and achieved a new respect. No longer were most women considered workhorses, or decoration (both ends of the social scale) they were now seen as being a person in their own right having proved that they had the mettle to work hard and achieve a sense of worth. This, of course in addition to being Mothers and caring for their children too.
I don't agree with most of this poets sentiments but on this one I have to agree with her. Her respect for the women of her time is evident. They took on the jobs of men for the duration of the war and then, most of them reverted back to the pre-war perception - but, I'm glad to say not 100%, they retained some of their hard-fought dignity and were proud of it.
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jessie pope
From guest abi (contact)
she seems a good poet and by reading them it seems like she is trying to say that girls are just as strong as men. -
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Most true. I do not think it would happen in this day and age. Those were in truth The good old days
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i like rhymes
From guest lynn (contact)
im writing about female first world war poetry in my final year dissertation and find your analysis of 'War Girls' interesting. Would you give permission for me to use your views on this poems as a reference within my dissertation and if so please could you provide a full name as i cant reference you as 'I like rhymes'! Thank you. Keep up the poetry reading, its fun isnt it! -
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No problem. Check the email
Jim Saville
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can any one help me...
From guest D.K.M (contact)
found this poem really interesting because the use of diction and simple ryhme scheme. However reading this poem i felt that she was angry towards the men for leaving. This poem is very repeatitive and uplifiting at that era of time but i found it more sarcastic did any1 els? -
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Yes DKM, there is possibly a hint of sarcasm in the work but if you look at some of Pope's other work she does seem to be taking the position that the war (1914-1918 European War) is a worthwhile activity and that the women/girls/females are just as committed to it as the men in that they are taking over additional tasks as well as their pre-war activities. This contrasts to the soldiers who have been relieved of their tasks in order to go abroad and fight.
So she is saying the women are, in a way, doing more than a men and that they won't have time for anything else until after the war. The lines
They've no time for love and kisses
Till the khaki soldier boys come marching back.
is probably also intended to reassure their husbands/boyfriends that they will be faithful to them even though they are meeting so many new people in their new jobs.
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They weren't forgotten. While the boys went off the women back home, working the jobs of men, weren't forgotten. This is great. They really never should be forgotten as they are the ones that helped keep this country together while the men were away. I loved this poem.
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very good
From guest evie wagstaff and claudia owen (contact)
very good and true and makes me think about how it was like to be a women at that time!makes women seem very strong go us women! -
From guest John (contact)
In a very similar style to Pope's other propaganda (i.e. "Who's For the Game?" and "The Call" among others) she is praising the work of women. A good example of a poem which shows the vital roles that women took up in the First World War, the first time they were really able to do so. However, the likelihood of their "the khaki soldier boys marching back" is very slim. Sassoon paints a much more bitter image of the work of women in the war. In an accusation almost, "you make us shells". Shells which fuel the carnage at the front. Sassoon also questions the civilians at home in his Declaration against the war, saying they "do not have sufficient imagination to realise" the "continuance of agonies which they do not share". This idea certainly seems to fit as Pope praises the work of women at home. Pope's glorification of war seems quite tasteless and almost chilling to a modern reader. However, it must be considered that this genre of poem would have been uplifting for the population, and does show the useful and worthwhile roles young women were filling at home. -
jus comentin....
From guest yoshi (contact)
i think this poem is an excellent example to show that woman alos played a pert in the war. i diagree that someone has said that it is sexist. In a way it does refer to the female species, however the humane part of it is taken away...because jessie Pope keeps on refering to them as girls....mybe as objects?...just a gender...not a character. -
Pope was in her late 40s when she wrote this. It is a fine description of how women (girls) took over many of the jobs when the men left to fight. At the time it was expected to be a temporary measure and the women would relinquish these tasks after the war. In fact this was the first real outbreak of feminism and led to the idea of equality of the sexes, votes for women was achieved before the end of this war (In Feb 1918).
The reference to no time for love and kisses presumably refers to the fact that as their boyfriends/husbands were overseas physical contact would have to wait!!
Jim S -
I'm quite indifferent to this poem- my English year 10/11 teacher hated it! But I don't mind the form, I like the rhyme and repetition. However, possibly because of the era it was written in, it seems quite sexist and jingoistic (which cannot be excused by the era, as Owen etc wrote anti-war poetry but could be because she's a 'girl' and didn't go to war)
Anyway, I disliked the message but I did like the style of this write.
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