The Soldier by Rupert Brooke

Question 1

Story + Message of ‘The Soldier’

Answer 1

• Narrator is stating what he would like to be remembered by if he died in the war on foreign soil
• Message of patriotism + fulfilling nature of dying for your country (specifically England) at war

Question 2

What is the tone of ‘The Soldier’?

Answer 2

Patriotic tone + sese of idealism -> uses to express his love for England

Question 3

What is the imagery used in ‘The Soldier’?

Answer 3

• Imagery of nature – harmonious relationship between reader and nature (specifically nature in England) – shows the narrators strong bond to England
• Imagery of joy felt by people in England

Question 4

“If I should die, think only this of me:”

Answer 4

• Conditional command – shows he accepts the possibility of his own death, establishes tone of bravery and assertiveness
• “only” established the patriotism that motivated Brooke as well as other young soldiers at the early idealistic stage of war – wants to be seen as devoted to his country and not mourned

Question 5

“There shall be”

Answer 5

There is a certainty in Brooke’s world view – he doesn’t question the morality of war and innocent lives lost

Question 6

1st + 3rd line have clear and simple rhyme

Answer 6

Clear rhymes may suggest the moral certainties Brooke seems to express in the poem

Question 7

“A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware”

Answer 7

• Shows patriotism of poet – even as dust he represents England, is a product of her society and ethos
• England s repeated and personified throughout the poem – a mother figure who raised and nurtured him, needs protecting, motherland (rousing propaganda style of writing
• “bore” – held and raised
• Builds up emotional impact of his country – lists how England made him the person he is today – triplet used

Question 8

“And think, this heart, all evil shed away,”

Answer 8

• Volta in poem – divide the 1st 8 lines on thoughts of death from the last 6 lines which move back to England and the joy that Brooke derives from his country
• In dying for his country, the soldier has sacrificed himself and become a martyr for England and that his heart (and perhaps soul) has been purified by this sacrifice
• “evil” – may be an implied reference to the horrors of war and the cruelty mankind is capable of

Question 9

“Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day; / And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,”

Answer 9

• Gentle rhythm of these 2 line
• Unity created by the alliterative “laughter”, “learnt” and “sights and sounds” – reader may be glad he didn’t suffer and go through trench warfare and died with his dream
• Poet’s cherished memories of England

Question 10

“In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.”

Answer 10

• Might refer to those who survive the war and can resume their idealistic existence – “hearts at peace” could also refer to those who may die fighting and find rest in heaven (which in Brooke’s view is English)
• “in hearts at peace” – death brings peace and comfort and he can die in the knowledge of a life well spent and sacrificed appropriately to help protect a notion that he believes is so important and righteous that even heaven reflects its values
• Most readers are sad and tolerant given his youth and ignorance

Question 11

Structure:

Answer 11

• The poem begins with the idea of the anonymous soldier’s death and suggests his decomposing body will infuse the ground around him with a little of his English values and ideals
• The middle of the poem personifies England and considers how beautiful and picturesque the countryside is
• The final stanza suggests that in death he will achieve some form of immortality under a “heaven” that is English, even if the land he lays in is not
• Sonnet form - love letter to England

Question 12

Context of ‘The Soldier’:

Answer 12

• Went to King’s College, Cambridge – education important
• Enlisted himself but never engaged
• Died aged 28 - may explain his youthful and optimistic outlook on England and fighting in war for it
• Written in 1914 in early idealistic stage of war
• Very optimistic and patriotic – 6 references to England
• Religious – often wrote about adult baptism
• Died from sepsis from a mosquito bite before the war, did not die from the war
• He was buried in a “foreign field” in Cyprus
• Never experienced warfare – poem may have been insulting to soldiers who did die in the war but alternatively Brooke may capture the patriotism of soldier who enlisted
• Used as a propaganda – recruitment poem to rouse an army

Question 13

“In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;”

Answer 13

• Human flesh is conceived as “dust” as in the biblical ‘ashes to ashes, dust to dust’ – used in Anglican Christian burial service
• Comparative – superiority of England

Question 14

«A pulse in the eternal mind, no less / Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given»

Answer 14

• Eternal
• privilege to be given thoughts of England