1. Write in your book what this image makes you feel about soldiers who die in war.

3. Eac
Each guided poetry lesson will cover a different poem from the 17 in the anthology.
It is important to remember that you will NOT be allowed to take your annotated anthology in to the exam.

4. Eac

5. Eac

6. The Soldier by Rupert Brooke
Poem 4.
The Soldier by Rupert Brooke

7. Learning Outcomes
To ANALYSE the context, language, and structure of the poem “The Soldier” by Rupert Brooke.

8. Can you summarise this poem in three sentences?
IF I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is forever 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 the 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.
Can you summarise this poem in three sentences?
romantises death/patriotic poem to encourage men to join
A02 (structure) - Petrarchan sonnet, in iambic pentameter (10 syllables per line), with Shakespearean rhyme scheme – usually sonnets are love poems. Why do you think Brooke has used this form?

9. AO3 – Contextual Introduction.
WW1 and Rupert Brooke
World War One took place between 1914 and 1918 and is remembered particularly for trench warfare, the use of gas and the terrible mass slaughter of millions of men, many as young as 15 years old.
WW1 - nearly 20 million dead or missing on both sides, another 20 million wounded, and a world that would never be the same.
Unlike Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon Brooke’s poems are not violent and challenging but more romantic and optimistic. This poem is an example of how people may have felt before they committed themselves to the violence of war - positive outlook. Brooke wrote poem in 1914, just as World War I was about to begin, he didn’t know how bad it was going to be. At beginning, many people still idealistic, even naïve, about warfare.
Dying in battle while claiming new land for one's country was still seen as a noble, even heroic thing.
Massive death toll of soldiers was as far from the general public's consciousness as just about anything could be.
Wars had never been as bad as World War I was to be.
Brooke was commissioned into the Royal Naval Division. In February 1915, he set sail for the Dardanelles.
On board the ship he developed septicemia from a mosquito bite. He died on 23 April 1915 on a hospital ship off the Greek island of Skyros and was buried in an olive grove on the island.
The speaker is face-to-face with his own mortality, and so this poem is his way of working through that imminent possibility that he could die.

10. AO1 – First thoughts
From whose point of view do you think this poem is written? Can you find evidence to support this?
What does the poem tell you about attitudes to war? Can you find a quote to back up your opinion?
Why do you think he choose the title “The Soldier” rather than “A Soldier?”

11. AO2 – Language
If a solider dies in war and is buried, how does he think his body will change “some corner of a foreign field” into a place that is “forever England?”
How do you think the narrator views death?
What words and images does Brooke use to describe England? Highlight these words. What impression do you think he wants to create of his country?
Highlight words associated with war and death in one colour and words associated with peace and rest in another colour. What do you think this suggests about the tone and purpose of the poem?
The narrator describes his body as a “A body of England’s” What do you think he means by this?
What view of heaven does the narrator have? Find words from the poem to show this. Do you think the narrator’s view of England is different from or similar to his view of heaven?
Is this a patriotic poem? How many references are there to England and why do you think these are repeated? How do you think this feeling of patriotism helps the narrator deal with his own mortality?

12. IF I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
AO2 - real possibility as war was just beginning. Already confronting hard truth that most people would rather not think about.
AO2 - Establishes the speaker’s romantic attitude towards death in duty.
AO2 - alliteration emphasises the possibility of dying in another country although the speaker does not seen afraid.

13. That is forever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A02-
Evokes ‘ashes to ashes, dust to dust’. His body/blood will mix with the foreign land to make the ground “forever England.”
The richer dust is the body of the soldier. He is making the foreign ground richer.
The suggestion that English “dust” must be “richer” represents a real attitude that the English in Victorian age actually had.
A02 - another way to look at this is that the dead soldier might also be "richer dust" because he is English, and thus better or "richer" than the land in which he is buried.

14. A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
AO2 - Personified England becomes a metaphorical mother.
England plays the role of a mother who gave birth to the soldier,
who will return to her when he dies.
A02 - Rule of 3 indicates how much England means to the speaker.

15. A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by the suns of home.
AO2 - Alliteration emphasises the intrinsic idea of Englishness.
AO2 - Suggests the purification of baptism.

16. And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
A promise of redemption.
He is not afraid of death.

17. Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
A02 - Sibilance indicates a really positive almost perfect image.

18. And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.
AO2 - alliteration underlines the happy scene.
AO2 - To die for England is the surest way to achieve salvation. Wherever a soldier dies, England will always be with him. Heaven will be like England. He is not afraid of death, seeing it just as the beginning of his everlasting life in heaven.

19. Summary
'The Soldier’ was written at the start of the war and reflects the positive and pro-war attitude of the time. Before the horrors of trench life and gas warfare were uncovered, people thought of the war as heroic and adventurous. The narrator embodies the belief that it is a soldier’s duty to fight for his country and that he should be willing to give his life for the cause. The soldier says that England has given him much to be proud of and that he is willing to give everything he can to the war effort – including his life. The poem does not mention the horrors of war but focuses on the nobility of fighting for your country. In ‘The Soldier’ Brooke seems to encourage people to fight for their country. It is very patriotic and nationalistic. The poem is as much about England as it is about war - ‘England’ or ‘English’ appears six times in only 14 lines of verse. The sonnet begins with “If I should die” suggesting the soldier is being realistic by mentioning death and confronting an issue people don’t usually want to think about. He is clearly not afraid of death as he sees it as just the beginning for his everlasting life in heaven “breathing English air.”

20. Plenary What themes does this poem contain?
What other poems could you compare it too?
Are their similarities/differences (themes, characters) with other poems you had studied?