The Call Teaching Resources Bundle | Jessie Pope Poetry

Teach The Call with minimal prep.

If you’re teaching The Call by Jessie Pope, you don’t need to spend hours creating discussion questions, poetry analysis activities, essay tasks and creative responses from scratch.

This complete The Call teaching resources bundle brings together a varied collection of ready-to-use activities designed to take students from their first exploration of the poem to deeper, more confident independent analysis.

Use the resources across a sequence of lessons or choose individual activities to complement your existing teaching. Students can explore Pope’s presentation of military recruitment, patriotism, propaganda, masculinity, courage, cowardice, national duty, social pressure and personal choice, while examining how her use of rhetorical questions, direct address, repetition, rhyme, rhythm, colloquial language, contrasts, structure and tone shapes the poem’s persuasive message.

Designed for secondary English and English Literature, the bundle can be used flexibly for whole-class teaching, paired and group discussion, independent learning, homework, revision and analytical writing.

Why this works

This is not simply a collection of disconnected worksheets. The bundle combines close analysis, discussion, debate, extended writing and creative response, giving students multiple ways to engage with the poem while developing increasingly independent interpretations.

• Supports close reading and detailed poetry analysis

• Encourages active discussion, debate and interpretation

• Develops students’ ability to support ideas with textual evidence

• Combines analytical and creative approaches to poetry

• Suitable for paired, group, whole-class and independent learning

• Provides flexible activities for lessons, homework and revision

• Explores Pope’s use of rhetorical questions, direct address, repetition, rhyme, rhythm, colloquial language, contrasts, structure and tone

• Encourages students to consider the relationship between the poem and its First World War context, including recruitment campaigns, patriotic expectations and contemporary attitudes towards military service

• Supports thoughtful exploration of masculinity, courage, cowardice, social pressure, propaganda and the relationship between individual choice and national duty

What’s included

• Poetry Analysis Task Cards exploring context, form and structure, title, speaker, themes, imagery, language devices, sound techniques, lexical choices, shifts, tone, setting, mood and personal response

• 36-question Roll the Dice Discussion Board (A3) exploring military recruitment, patriotism, masculinity, courage, cowardice, rhetorical questions, repetition, direct address, rhyme, rhythm, language, structure, tone and Pope’s overall message

• 10 Silent Debate statements designed to encourage students to form, justify and challenge interpretations of the poem

• 15 essay questions covering key areas of analysis including recruitment, propaganda, patriotism, masculinity, courage, shame, social pressure, rhetorical questions, direct address, repetition, form, structure and tone

• 10 creative writing prompts encouraging imaginative responses to the poem’s themes and First World War setting through persuasive speeches, historical fiction, letters, diary entries, poetry and dramatic writing

• 9 creative classroom tasks including recruitment poster design, podcast scripts, illustrated poetry, playscripts, documentary storyboards, contrasting diary entries, WWI uniform design, propaganda collages and newspaper front pages

• Teacher instructions for the Roll the Dice and Silent Debate activities, making both activities quick and straightforward to implement

How you can use it

• Introduce The Call and develop students’ initial responses

• Explore the historical context of the First World War, including voluntary enlistment, recruitment propaganda and patriotic expectations

• Analyse the significance of the title “The Call” and its suggestion of duty, invitation and personal responsibility

• Examine the opening rhetorical question “Who’s for the trench—” and how Pope immediately challenges her intended audience

• Explore the repeated direct address “my laddie” and its possible effects on young male readers

• Investigate how Pope presents military service as an exciting opportunity through references to action, competition and victory

• Analyse the significance of “Who’s going out to win?” and its presentation of warfare as a contest

• Explore how “save his skin” suggests negative attitudes towards men who prioritise their personal safety

• Examine the reference to the “khaki suit” and how military clothing becomes associated with identity and enlistment

• Investigate how the phrase “show his grit” connects courage, physical strength and traditional expectations of masculinity

• Explore the implications of “rather wait a bit” and how Pope presents hesitation as something potentially shameful

• Analyse how Pope uses rhetorical questions, direct address and repetition to challenge readers and encourage enlistment

• Examine how the poem’s rhyme and energetic rhythm contribute to its persuasive and memorable qualities

• Explore themes including patriotism, military recruitment, masculinity, courage, cowardice, national pride, social pressure and personal choice

• Investigate the reference to “earn the Empire’s thanks” and its relationship to patriotic duty and imperial identity

• Explore the imagery of “Banners and rolling drums” and how the anticipated victory procession makes military service appear rewarding

• Analyse the significance of “bite his thumbs” and its suggestion that those who refuse to enlist may experience regret or exclusion

• Examine how the poem contrasts the imagined rewards of military service with the possibility of being judged for remaining at home

• Investigate the development of Pope’s persuasive message across the three-stanza structure

• Explore how the poem’s lively, challenging and occasionally mocking tone influences its intended audience

• Consider how The Call reflects the conventions and objectives of First World War recruitment propaganda

• Discuss the contrast between Pope’s idealised presentation of enlistment and the historical realities of trench warfare

• Debate whether the poem genuinely offers young men a choice or uses social pressure to make refusal appear unacceptable

• Examine how the poem reflects contemporary expectations surrounding masculinity, courage and patriotic responsibility

• Run low-prep paired, group or whole-class discussions

• Encourage students to debate competing interpretations rather than search for a single “correct” reading

• Set independent analytical, creative or revision work

• Develop ideas for extended analytical and essay responses

What students gain

• Greater confidence analysing The Call independently

• A deeper understanding of Jessie Pope’s presentation of recruitment, patriotism and military service during the First World War

• Stronger ability to analyse rhetorical questions, direct address, repetition, rhyme, rhythm, form and structure

• Greater understanding of how poetry can be used to persuade, influence and shape public attitudes

• Increased awareness of the relationship between historical context, poetic methods and meaning

• A deeper appreciation of how expectations surrounding masculinity, courage and national duty influence individual decisions

• Experience developing and defending interpretations

• Improved discussion and analytical writing skills

• Greater confidence selecting and using textual evidence

• Opportunities to approach the poem through both analytical and creative thinking

Flexible enough for an entire teaching sequence

The variety of resources means the bundle can support far more than a single lesson. Begin with discussion and historical context, move into focused analysis of recruitment propaganda, rhetorical questions, direct address, masculinity and the poem’s persuasive structure, challenge students through Silent Debate, develop extended responses through the essay questions, or finish the unit with one of the creative tasks.

Teachers can select the activities that suit their class or combine them to create a broader The Call teaching sequence.

The resources also provide opportunities to make connections with other First World War poems, particularly those exploring patriotism, recruitment, propaganda, military service, courage, disillusionment and the human cost of conflict.

The Call works particularly well alongside Jessie Pope’s Who’s for the Game? and War Girls, as well as contrasting perspectives from poets such as Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon.

Download Now

Download the complete The Call by Jessie Pope Teaching Resources Bundle and start using it immediately, from first reading and classroom discussion through to detailed poetry analysis, independent interpretation and extended writing.

Digital download: Printable PDF resources. No physical product will be shipped.