Vitai Lampada exposes the sad nature of war’s suffering against the ideal depiction of war by ridiculing ideas associated with patriotism. One common belief boosting patriotism during the 20th Century affiliated war with a game of football, mentioned in Vitai Lampada when Newbolt asks us to “Play up! Play up a game of the game! Play the Game. Newbolt intentionally embeds this phrase after uncanny illustrations, which portray his experience seeing ‘a desert sodden red’ and ‘a river of death’ that aid the reader in linking ideas of war with gruesome and disturbing landscapes. Vitai Lampada uses these quotes to counter the misconception by referring to it, just to immediately knock it down again by using a mix of irony, repetition and vivid descriptions.
