When Gilbert’s birthday came last spring,
Oh! How our brains were racked
To try to find a single thing
Our languid dear one lacked;
For, since he nestled at his ease
Upon the lap of Plenty,
Stock birthday presents failed to please
The Nut of two and twenty.
And so we bought to suit his taste –
Refined and dilettante –
Some ormolu, grotesquely chased;
A little bronze Baccante;
A flagon of the Stuart’s reign.
A ‘Corot’ to content him.
Well, now his birth’s come again,
And this is what we sent him......
Some candles and a bar of soap,
Cakes, peppermints and matches,
A pot of jam, some thread (like rope)
For stitching khaki patches.
These gifts our soldier writes to say,
Have brought him untold riches
To celebrate his natal day
In hard-won Flanders ditches.
Jessie Pope
I think that the poem expresses how in previous years her son has received the best of everything for his birthday, and now he is a soldier, he only gets the most basic things, but appreciates them more for example- jam - matches, thread - in conclusion i feel that Pope express the change in her sons life and leaves the discussion of whether its for the better or not up to the reader.
ReplyDelete-holly goodfellow
This comment has been removed by the author.
Delete