“The Soldier” by Rupert Brooke is a sonnet that expresses patriotic idealism, suggesting that if a soldier dies in battle in a foreign land and is buried where he fell, that place will become “English” forever because his English body lies there.  The poem argues that the soldier’s body, formed by England, will enrich the land and that in death, his heart will be cleansed, and his thoughts will become part of a peaceful, eternal mind filled with happy English memories. It portrays an uplifting and romantic view of the sacrifice of a soldier for his country which is in stark contrast to the gruesome realities of war that emerged later.  It is important to remember that Brooke died very early in the war and as a result, most of his work is in keeping with portraying war as “a glorious cause” where British patriotism is as high a virtue as bravery and sacrifice.  Specifically:

• Physical sacrifice.  The speaker in the poem believes that if he dies, his body will become “a richer dust” in a foreign field. This dust is inextricably linked to England because the land has given him his very being; his body, his love for flowers, his ability to roam, and his breath. 
• England immortalized.  By burying the soldier’s body, a piece of foreign land is transformed into a small part of England, with his English “dust” now a permanent part of it. 
• Spiritual and mental legacy.  The second stanza suggests a transcendent transformation. His heart, purged of evil, will pulse with thoughts and memories of England; its sights, sounds, laughter with friends, and the gentleness of peace. 
• Patriotism and identity.  The poem presents an idealistic and romantic view of patriotism where a soldier’s identity is so completely bound to England that even in death, he carries England with him and returns a part of it to the earth. 

Why this poem?

            Any soldier who has ever been in combat overseas has time to think about death; death in general and what will happen if death is ‘personal’.  Combat is not training in your home country where it sometimes can be viewed as a game; in combat there is a very real possibility that you could die… then what?  What happens to you?  Today, there is a commitment that a soldier will not be left behind on a field of battle and given the improvements in miliary capabilities, soldiers have confidence that their earthly remains will be identified taken back home for burial.  This was not the case in the First World War where soldiers were buried near where they fell – provided their bodies were found and properly identified.  Every soldier in combat during the First World War had time to think about the terrible possibilities of death: what would be the effects of their death on the loved ones back home? Will your body be found?  Where will your mortal remains end up?  Will those you care about be able to find you?  What will death be like?  Not to be melodramatic, but in my previous career, I thought about the same things, and I took solace in the belief, like Brooke, that wherever it happened, there would be a little piece of America to be found if I fell. 

About the Poet Rupert Brooke. 

Rupert Brooke joined the Royal Navy after the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, and was commissioned into the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as a temporary lieutenant shortly after his 27th birthday. Brooke was assigned to the Royal Naval Division, an infantry division consisting of Royal Navy/Royal Marine personnel not needed at sea, and took part in the Siege of Antwerp in October 1914.

Brooke sailed with the British Mediterranean Expeditionary Force on February 28, 1915 but developed severe gastroenteritis while stationed in Egypt.  Not long afterwards, Brooke and his unit embarked on a ship bound for the landings at Gallipoli, Türkiye and while under way, contracted streptococcal sepsis from a mosquito bite which became infected. Surgeons aboard a French hospital ship anchored off the island Skyros, in the Aegean Sea, carried out two operations to drain the abscess, but he died of septicemia on April 23, 1915.  Brooke had just turned 27 at the time of his death.  As the expeditionary force had orders to depart immediately, Brooke was buried in an olive grove on Skyros.  Friends of Brooke assisted at his hastily organized funeral and his final resting place remains on the island along with a monument erected by those same friends.    

Note 1.  Sonnet.  A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem written in iambic pentameter, employing one of several rhyme schemes, and adhering to a tightly structured thematic organization. The name is taken from the Italian sonetto, which means “a little sound or song.”

Note 2.  Iambic Pentameter.  Iambic pentameter is a poetic rhythm with ten syllables per line, arranged in five pairs called “iambs.” Each iamb consists of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable (da-DUM). This creates a ten-syllable line with five beats, similar to the rhythm of natural human speech.