The Solider - Quotes, Context and Form & Structure

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  • Created by: Noah_S
  • Created on: 22-03-19 19:57
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  • The Solider
    • Rupert Brooke
      • 1914
    • Context
      • WW1
        • Used as a recruiting poem - yet Brooke had little experiences with war.
        • People were idealistic and naïve about war in 1914, seeing it as something noble and heroic
      • Previous poems about war was romanticised.
        • Brooke was very patriotic about Britain.
        • Poem can be seen as a love letter to England.
    • Beginning
      • "If I should die, think only this of me"
        • Ironically, the speaker begins the poem with "if" suggesting the uncertainty if the speaker will die - even though he Brooke died 4 months later.
        • The speaker is possibly referring specifically to death from the war - maybe thinking in advance before heading onto the battlefield.
      • "a foreign field / That is for ever England"
        • "foreign field" refers to t he battleground, but the use of enjambment suggests that England is there to stay.
        • Shows a clear patriotic view that the speaker thinks of England - it is ongoing and continuous.
    • Form and Structure
      • Written in Sonnet form.
        • Often used in love poems.
        • Contains two parts - an octet and sestet.
      • Written with Iambic Pentameter.
        • Often used in love poems.
        • Usually represents the human heart.
    • End
      • "In hearts at peace, under an English heaven"
        • "In hearts at peace" - shows death in a positive light. The soldier is fully accepting his death under the idea of an "English heaven".
        • The preposition "under" suggests that England will continue to look after him after death and that he will be rewarded in "heaven" for serving his country.
      • "And think, this heart, all evil shed away"
        • Contrast between "heart" and "evil" - showing the soldier views England as good while her opponents as evil.
        • Optimistic - it shows that the speaker thinks that what he is doing (and by extension, war) will help and solve problems in society.
    • Middle
      • "blest by suns of home"
        • Gives a semantic field of nature in England - celebrating England's finer details as the reasons the soldier fights.
        • Double meaning on the word "suns", as it could also be "sons" - showing that he is fighting for the people in England.
      • "A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware"
        • England is personified as a female - most likely as a mother. The speaker feels that England "bore, shaped" the land, giving the impression England is a giver of life.
        • Carries on with the speaker being patriotic about England, as he is fighting for the thing that gave him life - his country.

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