War poetry

 The Soldier by Rupert Brooke | Summary, Structure & Analysis

Why did Brooke write "The Soldier"?

Brooke wrote "The Soldier" in part because he too was a soldier on his way to fight in the Great War. He also wrote it to bring comfort to those who lost loved ones abroad and whose bodies were buried on foreign soil.

What techniques are used in "The Soldier" poem?

The poem uses personification to make England itself into a parent who cares deeply for its children. it also uses alliteration towards the end to highlight the happiness and good memories the soldiers carried with them.

What is the tone of the poem "The Soldier"?

The tone of "The Soldier" is very patriotic, as it personified England as a loving parent and extols the virtues of soldiers who bring a piece of England to other lands. The poem is designed to find the dignity in death for soldiers who died in the Great War.

What is the message of the poem "The Soldier"?

The message of "The Soldier" is that burying English soldiers on foreign soil should not be seen as a sad event. Rather, these soldiers brought a piece of England with them.

What type of poem is "The Soldier"?

"The Soldier" is a sonnet. It is not an English sonnet, which was popularized by Shakespeare, but rather it is an Italian sonnet.

''The Soldier'' by Rupert Brooke

''The Soldier'' is a poem written in 1914 by Rupert Brooke. It was published the following year in the book 1914 and Other Poems. The poem was originally written during World War I and features a narrator discussing the practice of burying dead soldiers near the places they died instead of being returned home. Brooke never saw combat in the war, but his poems written during that time made him a popular poet to this day. Brooke died shortly after finishing the poem.

On April 25, 1915, Brooke died of a blood infection from a mosquito bite and was himself buried abroad on the island of Skyros in Greece.

Summary of ''The Soldier''

''The Soldier'' is narrated by a soldier reminiscing about the practice of burying dead soldiers near the places where they were killed. It was not routine to ship soldiers back home during World War I. The narrator is generally agreed to be Brooke himself, though many poems are considered to be narrated by someone other than the writer themselves.

''The Soldier'' Poem Analysis

The Soldier' by Rupert Brooke

Written during the early days of World War I, Rupert Brooke's 'The Soldier', also known as 'Nineteen-Fourteen: The Soldier,' is an expression of patriotism and loss felt by many as a result of the Great War. Since it's a sonnet, Brooke's poem isn't very lengthy, but as you'll see in a moment, it's long enough to convey some very touching and inspiring sentiments

Analysis: Dust to Dust

You've most likely heard the phrase 'Home is where the heart is.' But you've probably never heard someone express the sentiment quite as literally as Brooke did in 'The Soldier.' In his sonnet, the poet ties his entire being, physical and mental, to England, making the two practically inseparable even in death

Many of us are familiar with the concept of 'Ashes to ashes; dust to dust.' This expresses the Judeo-Christian idea that since we're formed from the dust of the Earth, we're bound to return to it in death. In Brooke's thinking, then, since he was 'A dust whom England bore…' his final resting place even in 'some corner of a foreign field' would be 'for ever England.'

Of course, it's not just his physical 'body of England's' that carries with it the presence of the poet's homeland. Brooke asserts that even 'the thoughts by England given' would linger long after his death and recall the many cherished 'sights and sounds' of home. And whether we believe in any notion of the afterlife or not, it's evident from the poem's continued existence that Brooke and the England of his day have achieved some level of immortality.

The Immortal Sonnet

In the minds of many writers, their art is their surest way to immortality, and often this means participating in a literary tradition that's already been immortalized. For Brooke, this meant 'The Soldier' and other poems in his sonnet cycle by the same name already had a leg-up by being written in the tradition of Shakespeare, Spenser, and countless others who've made the sonnet such a timeless staple of English poetry.

✴️The Fear by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson:

The poem presents the fear of death not in its dramatic or heroic moments, but in the quiet, solitary act of dying alone. Unlike the fear of dying in battle, which can be met with courage and resolve, the fear of dying unnoticed and forgotten is a much more personal and intimate one. The speaker's fear is not of the physical act of dying, but of the complete and irreversible oblivion that follows.

This poem is a departure from Gibson's earlier works, which often celebrated the heroism and nobility of the working class. Instead, "The Fear" explores a more existential theme, delving into the universal human fear of death and the desire to be remembered. It reflects the disillusionment and uncertainty that characterized the post-World War I era, when many people were questioning traditional values and beliefs.

The poem's simple, yet effective language and imagery create a sense of starkness and inevitability. The contrast between the speaker's initial bravado and the creeping terror that follows highlights the fragility of human life and the futility of trying to escape the ultimate fate that awaits us all. 

Dulce et Decorum Est: Common Core and The Poetry of War

Introduction

For centuries, the poppy flower has held an association with restoration, sleep, and death: the plant was sacred to both Demeter—in ancient Greece, the flowering weed was used to revitalize the soil—and Hypnos—its seeds were used as both anesthetic and medicine. Red poppies grow in abundance in Asia and Europe including in the County of Flanders in southern Belgium. It was here, in the fields of Flanders, when the flower became the indelible symbol of World War I.

The Second Battle of Ypres started on April 21, 1915 and raged for over a month. Within thirty-five days, over 105,000 men were killed, wounded, or missing. 1 Throughout the battle, Lieutenant Colonel John McRae, a field surgeon with the Canadian artillery, treated the injured from both sides. He would later write: "Seventeen days of Hades! At the end of the first day if anyone had told us we had to spend seventeen days there, we would have folded our hands and said it could not have been done." 2 Included in the list of dead was Alexis Helmer, a close friend and former student of McRae. Helmer fell on May 2, 1915, twelve days into the conflict.

The following day, May 3 rd, McRae allowed himself a few moments to grieve. He sat in the back of an ambulance and began to write, staring out at the makeshift cemetery that had blossomed behind the field hospital. 3 Wild blooms of the blood-red flower adorned the new graveyard. In fifteen short lines, using a tight metrical pattern and paired rhyme scheme, McRae used poetry to grapple with the death of his friend, perhaps in an attempt to memorialize or give meaning to his loss. For almost 100 years, this composition—"In Flanders Fields"—has stood as one of the finest pieces of modern war poetry.

Unfortunately, most contemporary students finish their education with little background in poetry and almost no ability to analyze the genre. Many teachers assume that it is the students who do not like to study poetry and leave it out of their curriculum. Surprisingly, a 2006-2007 educational report found that "older pupils, particularly the more able, enjoyed the intellectual demands poems made and their ability to inspire frequent rereading." 4 In other words, our students want poetry in the classroom; we are the ones keeping it out.

Poetry has been an important part of every civilization and dates back to the earliest of human history. Poetry as an art form is believed to predate the written word. "In many ancient cultures, the poem was used as a way to maintain oral history and transport it across long distances." 6 Most of the surviving ancient texts include the poetry of prayer as well as passion. Because of its use of grammatical and rhythmic patterns, poetry helped people remember and pass down their stories, laws, and history.

This unit is being written for 10 th grade World Literature, though it could be adapted for any level of English. Much of my research looks at the importance of fiction and poetry in an educational system that is pivoting away from those subjects in favor of expository reading and writing. This unit is concurrent to a World History unit of study on World War I.

My Refferance:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273695137_Owen's_Dulce_Et_Decorum_Est_and_Performance_Studies

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfrid_Wilson_Gibson

https://www.thoughtco.com/the-soldier-by-rupert-brooke-1221215