The soldier

• context/content/structure

  poem was wrote in 2014

  published in 2015 - start of ww1

  promotes patriotism and naive optimism

  often read at soldiers funerals- seen as comforting

  describes how dying at war will be glorious and you will be repaying England for all she gave us

  war is presented as peace

  poem is propaganda

  written as a sonnet - shows soldiers love for country

  tone= patriotic seen with repetitions of "England"/ "English"

  there are no descriptions of war / battle / suffering
• "If i should die" - first quote 


  begins with tone of uncertainty

  "If" implies death not certain

  masks real horror of war straight away- death was widespread
• "There's some corner of a foreign field That is forever England" - second quote 


  clear patriotic tone

  soldiers who make sacrifice will be remembered forever

  presents colonial image of England's superiority

  body become part of land where buried- makes land English

  "forever" implies soul lives on giving it a religious feel
• "A dust of whom England bore...flowers....rivers...suns of home" - third quote 


  England is a mother figure

  "bore"- England gave birth to soldiers-like a mother- they must repay her - she gave them lots

  images of "flowers" and "rivers" are ones of an idealised England- green and pleasant land- must protect and preserve- its their duty
• "And think, this heart, all evil shed away" - fourth quote 


  "evil shed"- dying for country will remove all evil and sin from world

  dying will bring peace and purity- a very idealised/ sentimental image
• "In hearts at peace under an English heaven" - last quote 


  If soldier dies- he will be happy

  noun "peace"- shows death is peaceful

  "English" reinforces England's superiority / the patriotic tone

  "heaven" shows it will be a gentle, religious experience