Victorian Ladies and Gentlemen

In this section there is a short poem with a funny title, "Vitai Lampada" on page 582-583. In this poem the author uses his words to link two very different things. The poem is up-beat and sorrowful all at once. The background listed above the poem on page 582 tells us that Sir Henry Newbolt's poems create a link between school games and "romantic ideology of empire." It tells is that one officer actually dribbled a soccer ball as he led his men to their deaths in the battle of the Somme. In this particular poem he links a game children play to events occurring during World War I. Although a soccer ball was mentioned in the background, some words in the poem such as "bumping pitch, sand, sodden red, and square that broke" make me think about baseball. However, the game could be something similar to baseball such as stick ball because of the time period during which it was written. The poem changes lanes and becomes more serious during the end of the second stanza. "And the regiment blind with dust and smoke. The river of death has brimmed his banks, And England's far, and Honour a name." These lines bring imagery of the war to the reader. During the war there was dust and smoke on the battle field from the weapons they used. While reading this it made me think of the suffering as well as the patriotism of the parties involved. All things must come to an end and so did World War I. The poem ends with the line, "Play up! play up! and play the game!" Newbolt did a great job at describing the events with the actions of games.