The Soldier by Rupert Brooke Flashcards
“If I should die, think only this of me”
—> The ‘I’ of the poem is the soldier. He calmly addresses the possibility of death, which is a reality most people prefer not to face.
-immediate tone of bravery and assertiveness
—> speaker uses imperative verb ‘think’ which shapes the reader’s opinion of them, as it is their dying wish. (patriotism)
“Some corner of a foreign field // That is forever England”
—> determiners “a” and “some” suggest the speaker doesn’t care about the location of his death, but rather the fact that his death marks the land as ‘forever England’
Imperialistic phrase, suggests England will conquer foreign land by being buried there.
-enjambment smoothly intertwines the foreign imagery with a sense of belonging to England, highlighting how he carries England with him all the time.
“In that rich earth a richer dust concealed ; // A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,”
—> Polyptoton: Repetition shows how much they devote themselves to their country and will always remain english
—> euphemism - softening the blow of death,
—> metaphor of dust meaning he is the very embodiment of England with the comparative verb ‘richer’ emphasising how his British heritage will make the land greater and arable.
“England bore, shaped, made aware// Gave, once, her flowers to love”
‘blest by suns of home’
—>Personification of England as a mother would help her children. Shows his loyalty to England and desire to protect the love and grace he ‘received’ when growing up
‘blest by suns of home’
—> patriotic notions that highlight the beauty of England, the mother who raised the soldier
-creates vivid image of England’s elegance and beauty
“And think, this heart, all evil shed away, a pulse in eternal mind,”
—> Caesura slows down the pace of the poem, creating a reflective tone.
-“eternal” creates the thought that England will prevail and that the sovereignty is eternal
—> Volta of the poem, transitioning from the glory of the soldier’s death, to the everlasting grace and allure of England
‘”sight and sounds; dreams happy” // “laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness”
—> vivid imagery of England depicts an idealised version of her, creating a slow and gentle rhythm through the two lines.
—> the unity of England and her people is perhaps mirrored through the alliterative couples of ‘sights and sounds’ and ‘laughter’ and ‘learnt’
—> semantic field of joy creates a sense of fulfilment towards the soldier’s role in war: to protect the beauty of his motherlike England.
“In hearts at peace, under an English heaven”
—> nouns ‘heaven’ and ‘peace’ implies a perfect resting place even though the soldier died at war. Highlights an almost foolish patriotism, where sending people to their deaths was considered heavenly.
Form and structure:
sonnet 14 line with an octave and a sestet
Iambic pentameter mimics the calmness of the writer, who glorifies England
perhaps a poem of love to England; thankful to the mother that raised him throughout the years
Good old context:
Publication: The Soldier was written while Brooke was on leave at Christmas, 1914; it was the final sonnet in a collection of five that he entitled “1914” - his reflections on the outbreak of war. They were first published in the magazine New Numbers in January 1915.
Brooke’s death, en route to a foreign field: Rupert Brooke never experienced front-line combat but was sailing for Gallipoli with the British Mediterranean Expeditionary Force when he contracted blood poisoning from a mosquito bite. He died on April 23 1915 (St George’s Day), aged 27.
