Zusammenfassung der Ressource
The Soldier by Rupert Brooke
- Brooke was a soldier during WWI, but never fought on the front line
- He died of blood
poisoning as a result
of a mosquito bite,
not from the war
- His poetry was pro-war
- He was very patriotic about England
- In the poem he describes how beautiful
England is and that it would be honourable to
die for her
- It explores the ideal death of a
British soldier in the war
- The poem crosses over between a Petrarchan sonnet (stanza sizes and the
sestet rhyme scheme) and Shakespearean sonnet ( the octave's rhyme
scheme)
- 'under an English heaven' suggests that it is better than
others because it is English
- Semantic field of nature: 'field', 'flowers', air', 'rivers', suns'. This helps to
convey the natural beauty of England
- 'In that rich earth a richer dust concealed', this
suggests that the soil is now better as it has an
English soldier in it
- The caesura in line 3 after 'England' helps to create a powerful
pause, that impresses upon the significance of England
- ' blest by suns of home', shows that he thinks God is on their side because they have 'blest'
- The choice of a sonnet
reflects his love for England.
The stanze sizes also reflect
two opposing sides and the
larger stanza is winning
- The first stanza (the octave) talks about death, but not in a negative way and then the last stanza (the sestet) talks about after death, which is the volta.
- 'Washed by rivers' contains connotations of religion as Britain is cleansed by rivers, which again links to God being on their side
- 'England bore, shaped, made aware', this suggests that he thinks England helps you grow as a poerson and that it
shapes who you are. It also personifies England as a mother like figure- this could mean that he thought England
was the creator of all
- Repetition of England highlights his love and passion
for her. Also, despite being well travelled he still thinks
England is the best as it is the only country he
mentions