Study guide
The Soldier by Rupert Brooke analysis (Grade 9)
- Institution
- WJEC EDUQAS
Indepth notes for the WJEC English Literature (9-1) specification.
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By: marielouiselilac • 4 year ago
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The Soldier by Rupert Brooke (P.07)Narrative Set at the beginning of World War I, Rupert Brooke talks about the soldier’s possible death and the
peaceful afterlife he will enjoy after sacrificing himself for his country.
Contexts Written as a part of a series of poems titled 1914, written in 1914 at the beginning of the war when
people shared a more idealistic and naïve view about the war as no other war had been as bloody as
this. Brooke died in 1915 from blood poisoning.
Themes Patriotism – Patriotism is heavily Death – Death and the afterlife Religion – The
featured and this poem could be seen as are aspects of the poem’s plot, afterlife plays a large
propaganda, getting young men to fight. written whilst resigned to death. part in the poem.
Literary Anthropomorphism – Rupert Brooke heavily Parataxis – Across the whole poem Brooke
Devices anthropomorphises the body of the dead soldier, negates the use of conjunctions in favour of
attaching aspects of a god-like presence while parataxis and this helps to maintain the flow. This
saying it was “blest by the suns of home”. He can be see prominently in the first stanza in which
also uses comparative language to contrast “a a triad is used to list how England “bore, shaped,
body of England’s” with its surrounding, made aware” – the use of parataxis makes this
express how it is “a richer dust” - no longer roll of the tongue in quick succession, amplifying
attaching human descriptors to it. the audience’s response to this.
Personification - By attaching notions of possession to various aspects of the composition of the
soldier through personification, a sense of patriotism is derived. This can be seen when describing the
soldier as “a body of England’s, breathing English air”. Furthermore, Brooke also mentioned how
England “gave […] her flowers to love, her ways to roam” and in stanza two, how his thoughts
were “given”, granted by England. This attaches a privilege to essentially being born English and in
the context of the early stages of the First World War, this could be seen as propaganda, implying a
sense of debt to anyone born English for which, by fighting war, they can pay back, encouraging
young men to go to war as he did.
Key “In that a rich earth a richer dust concealed” After his death, there is still an aspect of territorial
Language plays on the use of ‘dust’ in funeral services. gain, with there being “a corner of a foreign field
This shows how Brooke’s religious views that is for ever England.” This appeals to the
affected his poetry in many more ways than optimistic mood of the poem as it places a
one. victorious spin on what is a loss for the English.
“An English heaven” – the final line of the poem is jingoistic and hyperbolic in that it attaches the
summit of virtue to being English. The fact that he does go to heaven after undoubtedly killing many
enemies attaches morality to going to war. This could have been done to rest his own and other young
men’s reservations over killing men, even if it is for a cause.
Form and Written in iambic pentameter across an octet and a sextet with a regular ABAB rhyming scheme
Meter across the whole poem, the form of a sonnet, often used in romantic poetry. Considering the
personification used and the romantic imagery used (“her flowers to love”) this encapsulates the
romanticism Brooke applies to going to war and his country.
Structure Imperatives are used at the beginning of both stanzas, structuring the poem as one long order, to not
think of his death as unnecessary and gruesome.
The first stanza, the octet blazons purely physical attributes of the dead soldier, whilst the second
stanza, the sextet focuses purely on spiritual aspects, keeping in line with format of a sonnet.
Compare Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen Mametz Wood by Owen Sheers
s with…
Quotations to remember
If I should die, think only this of: In that rich earth a richer dust concealed
That there’s some corner of a foreign field A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
That is for ever England… Gave… her flowers to love, her ways to roam
A body of England’s, breathing English air, … blest by the suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England
given;
… dreams happy as her day; In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.
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