Jessie Pope (19 March 1868 – 14 December 1941) was an English poet, writer, and journalist, who remains best known for her patriotic, motivational poems published during World War I.
[7] She also wrote verses for children's books,[6] such as The Cat Scouts (Blackie, 1912) and the following eulogy to her friend, Bertram Fletcher Robinson (published in the Daily Express on Saturday 26 January 1907):[8] Good Bye, kind heart; our benisons preceding,Shall shield your passing to the other side.The praise of your friends shall do your pleadingIn love and gratitude and tender pride.To you gay humorist and polished writer,We will not speak of tears or startled pain.You made our London merrier and brighter,God bless you, then, until we meet again!Pope's war poetry was originally published in The Daily Mail; it encouraged enlistment and the handing of a white feather to youths who would not join the colours.
Nowadays, this poetry is considered to be jingoistic,[9][10] consisting of simple rhythms and rhyme schemes, with extensive use of rhetorical questions to persuade (and often pressure) young men to join the war.
[13] Pope is prominently remembered first for her pro-war poetry, but also as a representative of homefront female propagandists such as Mrs Humphry Ward, May Wedderburn Cannan, Emma Orczy, and entertainers such as Vesta Tilley.
[14] In particular, the poem "War Girls", similar in structure to her pro-war poetry, states how "No longer caged and penned up/They're going to keep their end up/Until the khaki soldier boys come marching back".
Some writers have attempted a partial re-appraisal of her work as an early pioneer of English women in the workforce, while still critical of both the content and artistic merit of her war poetry.