Poetry Anthology - The Soldier

Question 1

Key themes

Answer 1

War
Religion
Love (for his country)
Strong feelings

Question 2

Structure

Answer 2

Sonnet form - presents patriotism as a form of love
Cyclical structure - begins and ends with thoughts of death - suggests that dying for your country gives meaning to life

Question 3

Key quotes (5)

Answer 3

Title - ‘The Solider’
‘England’
‘In that rich earth a richer dust concealed’
‘‘Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given’
‘Dreams happy as her day’
‘Under an English heaven’

Question 4

Analyse the title

Answer 4

Title is unnamed
Suggests he is speaking for all soldiers

Question 5

Analyse repetition of ‘England’

Answer 5

Repeated 6x
Repetition of words connected to England
Overwhelming love for his country
Extremely patriotic

Question 6

Analyse ‘in that rich earth a richer dust concealed’

Answer 6

Suggests that the soil has become better now that the soldier is buried there

Question 7

Analyse ‘gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given’

Answer 7

Believes he is dying in a righteous way and when he dies he will give back to England what England gave to him

Question 8

Analyse ‘dreams as happy as her day’

Answer 8

Beautiful imagery of England
Romanticising England

Question 9

Analyse ‘under an English heaven’

Answer 9

Emphasis of English heaven implies he thinks it is above others
Very patriotic
Assumes he will go to an English heaven - sense of arrogance

Question 10

Context

Answer 10

Never experienced war himself - died of malaria on the want to war - explains why the poem lacks realism of brutality and trauma