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