"The Soldier" by Rupert Brooke

Rupert Chawner Brooke was born on 3rd August 1887 and died on 23rd April 1915. He was an English poet known for his idealistic war sonnets written during the First World War, especially "The Soldier". He was also known for his boyish good looks, which were said to have prompted the Irish poet W. B. Yeats to describe him as "the handsomest young man in England".

The speaker of the poem is a soldier. The soldier is telling the readers that if he will die in war then think only in certain ways of him. Then he says that if he dies in foreign land than that corner of land will be forever England. In the rich earth of foreign land the richer dust of soldier will be concealed. The dust which is born in England. The dust whom England has shaped, made aware of the whole world and gave her flowers to spread love and her ways to roam around. The body of soldier, which is raised in England and which is breathing English air. The body which is purified by the rivers and baptized by the sun of England. In this first stanza poet is talking about the superiority of his motherland and how his motherland has raised him, and gave him everything he wants.

In second stanza soldier is talking about the eternal happiness. As the soldier is dead, all evil of heart is vanished. Now there is pulse in eternal mind. In this eternal mind soldier again have all the thoughts which England has given to him through out his life. The sights and sound of England and the dreams which are as beautiful as the day of England, the laughter with friends and gentleness, soldier can see all these things in his eternal mind. At last the heart of soldier is at peace because he is under the English heaven.

This poem is a sonnet. Sonnets have 14 lines. Its first stanza is octave and second is sestet. If we look at the stanza structure this is Italian sonnet. But the octave follows the rhyme scheme of Shakespearean sonnet, which is ABABCDCD. Sestet has different rhyme scheme then Shakespearean sonnet which is EFGEFG. So this is blend of two types of sonnet.

Thank you.