Jessie Pope

The Poetry Of Jessie Pope

Jessie Pope was born in Leicester on March 18th 1868. Educated at North London Collegiate School and in her career became a regular contributor to Punch, The Daily Mail and The Daily Express, also writing for Vanity Fair, Pall Mall Magazine and the Windsor. Jessie wrote extensively for children and had her verse published in Pope also wrote verse for many illustrated collections for children, including The Little Soldier Book (1907), Babes and Birds (1910), Babes and Beasts (1912), The Adventures of Silversuit (1912), Three Jolly Anglers (1913), Tom, Dick and Harry: their Deeds and Misdeeds (1914), and Frolicsome Friends (1915). Her adult poetry is essentially patriotic and misses much of the carnage and brutality so powerfully portrayed by the War Poets. She was extensively published by The Daily Mail in order to encourage enlistment among young men. Her simple rhymes and jingoistic stance encouraged many to sign up and fight for the Allies. During the war she published three volumes of verse; Jessie Pope's War Poems (1915), More War Poems (1915) and Simple Rhymes for Stirring Times (1916). After the war, Pope continued to write poems, a novel and children's books. She married at age 61 in 1929 and moved from London to Fritton, near Great Yarmouth. Jessie Pope died on December, 14, 1941 in Devon.