The soldier

• Written by Rupert Brooke
• Describes Brooke’s overly patriotic view that dying for your country is a glorious and honourable sacrifice. Acts as a love poem for England. Idealistic view of war
• Poem is a sonnet
• The title suggests an anonymous soldier and that many died in the War
• ‘If I should die’ - acceptance of death and seen as a sacrifice he’s willing to make
• A ’foreign’ field showing he is far from home and it is different to England
• Personifies England - his mother who shaped and nurtured him
• Beauty to England shown through ‘Flowers’ and ‘Rivers’
• The title 'The Soldier' suggests an anonymous person, reflecting how many soldiers died during WWI. It is a sonnet, a love poem to England
• If I should die


  Suggests an acceptance of death and modal verb "should" indicates a willingness to die for his country
• Richer dust


  Suggests the remains of his body are superior to the ground he lies in because he is English not foreign. Dust also relates to the religious idea of our bodies becoming "dust" when we die
• A pulse in the eternal mind


  Suggests his presence in the soil of foreign land will always live on, making him immortal
• Under an English heaven


  Shows his pride in England as he is suggesting England is almost like paradise and to die in England's name would bring him "peace"
• Rupert Brooke was a soldier during WWI and died of blood poisoning. He was buried in "a foreign field" in Cyprus
• He never was involved in active service but this poem shows he felt very patriotic about England
• 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
• The title suggests an anonymous soldier and perhaps reflects how many soldiers were to lose their lives in battle