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Ilana COMTE

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The Soldier Rupert Brooke, 1887 - 1915 If I should die, think only this of me: That there's some corner of a foreign field That is for ever England. There shall be In that rich earth a richer dust concealed; A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam, A body of England's, breathing English air, Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away, A pulse in the eternal mind, no less Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given; Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day; And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness, In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

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Ilana COMTE

LCA1C

The Soldier is a poem by famed war poet, Rupert Brooke, a soldier who served in world war one and died during the war. While most of war poems have negative meanings or point of view, The Soldier, is much more positive. It glorifies the actions of men and focused on the courage shown by soldiers. It was written in a war context. It is a very patriotic poem. Brooke represents the patriarchy of fighting or even dying for England as being the most admirable and noble thing a man can do. We will first see this poem as a propaganda and how honourable defending its country is. Then, we will talk about the symbol of England and what it implies.

In some ways, this could be considered as propaganda as the reality of the war is that people died, lost their loved ones or were seriously hurt. Ware is not a positive or happy thing. This poem encouraged English men to go and fight for their country, giving them a fake image of what war is. Using a personal point point of view with “I” and “me” at the first line of the poem, brooke gives a kind of testimony, presenting what his saying as personal experience. This poem gives an impression of peacefulness. Indeed, the use of the adjective “happy” line 12, the words “heaven” and “at peace” line 14 make even feel the war and the death during a war as a relief because it is for England. One more argument to convince men to risk their life for their country. More over, with the use of “no less” line 10, Booke means that there is nothing more important than fighting for England. He also uses the adverb “only” line 1, talking about what he wants us to remember: England. England is the only thing which matters for him. We can also observe an alliteration in “f” in lines 2 and 3: “that there's some corner of a foreign field/That is for ever England.” The repeated soft sound of the “f” makes a gentle tone, it reassures people at home that his death is not something to be upset about. Moreover, it links the 2/3

Ilana COMTE

LCA1C

three words with each other and England, as if now that he is burried in the foreign country, the foreign country will be part of England for ever thanks to his death. Throughtout the poem, England is personnified. Indeed, there is several examples of this personification. “A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware” line 5, “Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roamhere” line 6, England gave life to the soldier. Just like a mother, she educated him, she shew him the direction, helped him. His love for England and his wish to sacrifice are the same as a son’s love for his mother; but more than an ordinary son, he would give his life to her. Here, we can understand how the soldier feels about his country, how special it is for him. It gives us the impression that the soldier must be grateful to England, that he own it his life, and that why he is ready to sacrifice his life to protect England. Moreover, we can find the word “English” or “England” six times in the poem, which is a lot for a 14 lines poem. It shows one more time the importance of England. England can also be compared to God. Indeed, in religions, it is god who “bore, shaped and made aware”, and humans are supposed to be grateful to it for their life, juste like the soldier is grateful to England. So we can say that England adulated, like a God. This shows the place of England in the soldier's life.

To conclude, we can say that this poem is a pro-war poem and shows war, and particulary death during a war as something honourable, as something to be proud of. This poem is also very patriotic. Indeed, it presents England as the most important thing in the world. It shows what the soldier would be ready to do to keep England safe. He would give his life for it. The personification of England presents her as a mother or a god.

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