Structure

• 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.