NEIL Munro (1864-1930), popular Scottish novelist and creator of Para Handy, employs irony to devastating effect in the rhetorical question posed in his poem from the First World War.
These are the opening verses.
HEY, JOCK, ARE YE GLAD YE 'LISTED?
Hey! Jock, are ye glad ye 'listed?
O Jock, but ye're far frae hame!
What d'ye think o' the fields o' Flanders?
Jockey lad, are ye glad ye came?
Wet rigs we wrought in the land o' Lennox,
When Heilan' hills were smeared wi' snaw;
Deer we chased through the seepin' heather,
But the glaur o' Flanders dings them a'!
This is no' Fair of Balloch,
Sunday claes and a penny reel;
It's no' for dancin' at a bridal
Willie Lawrie's bagpipes squeal.
Men are to kill in the morn's mornin';
Here we're back to your daddy's trade;
Naething for't but to cock the bonnet,
Buckle on graith and kiss the maid.
The Cornal's yonder deid in tartan,
Sinclair's sheuched in Neuve Eglise;
Slipped awa' wi' the sodger's fever,
Kinder than ony auld man's disease.
Scotland! Scotland! little we're due ye
Poor employ and skim-milk board.
But youth's a cream than maun be paid for,
We got it reamin', so here's the sword!
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article