War Girls
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
Till 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 cries 'All fares, please!' like a man,
And the girl who whistles taxis 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.
"War Girls by Jessie Pope." - Famous Poems, Famous Poets. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2014.
This poem talks was written during World 1 and talks about a women’s role in during the war and how it changed. This poem represents a larger movement among women during the war to step out of their normal position of homemaker and fill jobs that were typically done by men. This was a great time for women’s empowerment and women all over the country accepted their new role in society. When the men came back from war and started to take their jobs back, some women were reluctant to go back to their old role as homemaker, it was like they had a taste of the forbidden apple and then it was took away. Women had realized that they were as capable and worthy as men and the women’s empowerment movement picked up.
I am not a fan of poetry but I am a fan of politics and commentary on social issues so when I was looking for a poem, this one jumped out at me. I am also very interested in the feminist movement so this poem got my attention. If all poetry that I read was like this, I wouldn’t mind reading it at all.
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