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Rupert Brooke (1887-1915 / Warwickshire / England)
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1914 V: The Soldier
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.
Read poems about / on: laughter, evil, happy, peace, heaven, home, soldier, heart, flower, river, friend, dream
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a big fat 10 for this!
the line
There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed
gets me ever time: D [3
Under English heaven wherever he was.....good job, Rupert!
The idea that a dead soldier: Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given... is a bit fanciful to say the least. From my experience of military life I should prefer if most of the soldiers I met kept their thoughts to themselves! A famous poem, but its sentimentality has not worn well seen through the carnage that followed. And Brooke's privileged life was by no means the life that most men and women had whom England bore. I do not think they would have written like this.
Let's remember the soldier before the atrosity of war took away his inocence and his life!
This poem by Brooke unveils the mindset of the soldier sent to war in Europe. This was hoped to be the war to end all wars, but unfortunately we now know much better. He knew tyranny had to be defeated so all might enjoy the heaven he had experienced as a young child in England. We continue to fight today for many of the same reasons. Mankind perhaps will never overcome his fleshly urges of power, greed, lust, and other evils, so wars shall continue until all can learn to live peacefully and settle their differences in a rational manner. And until we learn to protect individual rights, by allowing the people to have democratic republics instead of mob democracies, atrocities en masse will continue.
This poem by Brooke unveils the mindset of the soldier sent to war in Europe. This was hoped to be the war to end all wars, but unfortunately we now know much better. He knew tyranny had to be defeated so all might enjoy the heaven he had experienced as a young child in England. We continue to fight today for many of the same reasons. Mankind perhaps will never overcome his fleshly urges of power, greed, lust, and other types of evil, so wars shall continue until all can learn to live peacefully and settle their differences in a rational manner. And until we learn to protect individual rights, by allowing the people to have democratic republics instead of mob democracies, atrocities en masse will continue.
The first half of this poem is just impeccable but im afraid to me it wained a bit in the latter..but thats just personal taste i think...to me the first 8 lines is all that i needed to read....
This poem is such a beautiful and sad poem, so touching
This is such a beautifully sad poem. To me, there are key ponits in each section.
The first is the use of the work 'Gave', which hints at some sort of sacrificial giving of the English boys sent to war (or duped into signing up) . How right he was.
The second is the statement 'A pulse in the eternal mind, no less'. This is a clear awareness that the events unfolding before him would never be forgotten - again... how right he was.
We must read this in the context it is written - the only indication of war in this poem is - 'in a foreign field'. The writer was naive to the atrocities of war.... 'A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, '
From a 21st century perspective we can read 'made aware' as being ironic as propaganda was used for obfuscation not revelation: it duped men into enlisting.