The Soldier
by Rupert Brooke
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A deeply moving sonnet of pure patriotism written in the early, idealistic months of the First World War. The soldier serenely and fearlessly accepts his own possible death in battle. In the octave he says that if he dies, 'some corner of a foreign field' will be 'for ever England', because his body is 'a dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware', nurtured by her flowers, air, rivers and suns, so his grave will hide a 'richer dust'. In the sestet he turns from the physical grave to the spiritual afterlife: his soul, 'a pulse in the eternal mind', will give back the thoughts England gave him, her sights and sounds, dreams, laughter and the gentleness of an 'English heaven'. The poem celebrates death in war not as tragedy but as a peaceful, grateful return of a child's soul to the spiritual embrace of his motherland.
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Rupert Brooke (1887–1915) was an English poet who came to symbolize the initial, idealistic patriotism of the early phase of the First World War. He died of blood poisoning (septicaemia) on his way to the battle of Gallipoli. 'The Soldier' is a patriotic war sonnet expressing pure love for one's motherland, written before the brutal reality of trench warfare had crushed European idealism.
The octave, the richer dust
The poem opens with a famous, comforting address: 'If I should die, think only this of me: / That there's some corner of a foreign field / That is for ever England.' The poet argues that if he is killed and buried on foreign soil, that small grave will permanently become a part of England. He describes his body as 'a dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, / Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam.' He is a child of the English landscape, nurtured by her air, washed by her rivers and blessed by her suns; therefore his grave will conceal a 'richer dust' saturated with the essence of England.
The sestet, the English heaven
In the final six lines the poet moves from the physical grave to the spiritual afterlife. He imagines his soul after death, freed from all earthly evil, 'a pulse in the eternal mind, no less'. His thoughts, memories and dreams will be returned to the universal consciousness, but they will be uniquely English. His soul will vibrate with the sights and sounds of his homeland, the happy memories of days spent with friends, the laughter he shared and the gentle, peaceful thoughts of an 'English heaven'. The poem celebrates death not as a tragedy but as a peaceful, grateful return of a child's soul to the spiritual embrace of his motherland.