The Full Text of “The Soldier”
1If I should die, think only this of me:
2 That there’s some corner of a foreign field
3That is for ever England. There shall be
4 In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
5A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
6 Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam;
7A body of England’s, breathing English air,
8 Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.
9And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
10 A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
11 Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
12Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
13 And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
14 In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.
“The Soldier” Introduction
o "The Soldier" is a poem by Rupert Brooke written during the first year of
the First World War (1914). It is a deeply patriotic and idealistic poem that
expresses a soldier's love for his homeland—in this case England, which
is portrayed as a kind of nurturing paradise. Indeed, such is the soldier's
bond with England that he feels his country to be both the origin of his
existence and the place to which his consciousness will return when he
dies. The poem was a hit with the public at the time, capturing the early
enthusiasm for the war (before the grim realities of longterm conflict
made themselves known). Nowadays, the poem is seen as somewhat
naïve, offering little of the actual experience of war. That said, it
undoubtedly captures and distills a particular type of patriotism.
“The Soldier” Summary
o If I die in the war, I want to be remembered in a particular way. Think of
how the far-off land on which I die will have a small piece of England
forever. That earth will be enriched by my dead body, because my body is
made from dirt born in England. England created me and gave me
consciousness, gave me her blooming plants to fall in love with, and gave
me my sense of freedom. My body belongs to England, has always
breathed English air. England's rivers cleansed me, and I was blessed by
England's sun.
Also consider the way in which my soul, through death, will be made pure. My
consciousness will return to the immortal consciousness like a beating pulse, and
return the beautiful thoughts that England gave me. I'll return the sights and sounds of
my home country; to the beautiful dreams that were as happy as England's daytime;
and to the laughter shared with English friends. And I'll return England's gentleness,
which lives in the English minds that are at peace under the English sky (the English
heaven where I will be at peace too when I die).
“The Soldier” Themes
War, Patriotism, and Nationhood
“The Soldier” explores the bond between a patriotic British soldier and his homeland.
Through this soldier’s passionate discussion of his relationship to England, the poem
implies that people are formed by their home environment and culture, and that their
country is something worth defending with their life. Indeed, the soldier sees himself
as owing his own identity and happiness to England—and accordingly is willing to
sacrifice his life for the greater good of his nation. This is, then, a deeply patriotic
poem, implicitly arguing that nations have their own specific character and values—
and that England’s are especially worthy of praise.
Though most people might fear death—particularly of the violent kind that war can
bring—the speaker of “The Soldier” is prepared to die because he believes hew would
be doing it for his beloved homeland. The speaker thus doesn’t want people to grieve
his death. He sees that potential death—in some “foreign field” (notably “foreign”
because it won’t be in England)—as a way of making a small piece of the world “for
ever England.” That’s because he sees himself as an embodiment of his nation.
Accordingly, dying somewhere “foreign” leaves a small part of the home nation in that
foreign land. Nationhood, then, is portrayed as something that is inseparable from a
person’s identity—even when they die.
Indeed, the speaker feels he owes his identity itself primarily to his country. It was
the personified England that “bore” and “shaped” him, nourished him with sun
(ironic, given the often gloomy weather!) and air, and cleansed him with “water.” Much
of the sonnet’s octave—the eight-line stanza—is devoted to creating a sense of
England as a pastoral, idyllic, and even Eden-like place. The poem’s imagery of rivers,
flowers, earth, air, and sun, is part of an attempt to transform nationhood from a
human concept to something more fundamental and natural (all the while tied to
England specifically), as though the land is infused with the character of its people and
vice versa.
In fact, this nationhood is so deeply embedded in who people are—or so the poem
argues—that it extends beyond the earthly realm. Even the heaven that the speaker
hopes to go to is specifically an “English heaven.” In part, that’s because the speaker’s
idea of heaven is a projection of how he sees England—apart from being a kind of
natural and nurturing mother, England is already a kind of heaven. Indeed, the poem
presents England and heaven as almost interchangeable—as described above,
everything about England is supposedly pure and nourishing. The speaker’s
consciousness, after he dies, will return to an “eternal mind” which will still be forever
linked to the place that created it.
There is nothing in the poem, then, of the horrors of war. Indeed, there is very little of
the realities of war at all. This perhaps explains why the poem has inspired strong
reactions ever since its publication. It was immensely popular when it was published in
1914, but this was before the true horrors of the First World War had been fully
revealed, a time when the war was still tinged with an air of excitement, anticipation,
and, of course, patriotism. In the decades that followed, some critics saw Brooke’s
poetry as woefully naïve and sentimental. Either way, the poem is a powerful
expression of patriotic desire and belief in the bond between people and their
homeland.
“The Soldier” Speaker
o The speaker in this poem is, of course, the "soldier" of the title. The
reader learns nothing specific about this soldier's circumstances, and
that's because this soldier is a kind of idealized figure who represents an
equally idealized way of considering nationhood and patriotism.
The speaker feels himself—in every fiber of his being—to be an Englishman. He
considers himself a son of England—and England is personified as a kind of nurturing
mother/Mother Nature figure throughout. The speaker thus buys into a traditionally
patriotic view of England, one especially tied to the pastoral beauty of its "green and
pleasant land" (an oft-quoted description of England from the hymn "Jerusalem," with
words from a poem by William Blake). This relationship is mostly explored in the first
stanza, with its mentions of "dust," "flowers," "air," "rivers," and "suns."
The speaker is contented with the idea of his death, even embracing it. That's because
he feels that dying is a noble sacrifice, part of his way of returning the love that his
country has showed him. Indeed, the speaker sees England not just as a nurturing
figure, but also as a kind of heaven itself, linking his spiritual nourishment—in this life
and what follows—to his homeland. Accordingly, he sees his eternity as one spent in
"an English heaven."
“The Soldier” Setting
o The setting of this poem can fairly be described as the speaker's idea of
England. He sees himself—in both body and mind—as an extension of
England. If he is to die during the war, then a small part of England will
enrich the soil wherever he dies. The rest of the first stanza discusses his
beloved England, portraying it as a pastoral paradise—saying little of the
rain that often falls there! Instead, England is like Eden: a kind of rich and
beautiful garden full of flowers, fresh air, flowing rivers, and sunshine.
This sets up the way that the second stanza explicitly links England to
heaven itself ("hearts at peace, under an English heaven"). Indeed,
heaven and England are practically interchangeable in the speaker's
mind.
Historical Context
At the time, World War I was described with the term "the war to end all
wars"—a phrase that of course turned out to be tragically inaccurate with the
onset of World War II. Around 16 million people died directly in WWI, with many
more perishing in the great flu outbreaks and genocides (for example, the
Armenian Genocide) that followed.
The war began with the assassination of Archduke Franz-Ferdinand, who was
the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire (which ruled a large section of Central
and Eastern Europe at the time). The assassin, Gavrilo Princip, wished to see an
end to Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Previously arranged
allegiances soon brought Germany and Russia into opposition, and before too
long this conflict pulled the other countries of Europe into the war as well. In
1915, the Germans sank a British passenger ship called the Lusitania, killing
many civilians. Among other reasons, this event drew the United States into
the conflict as well.
As described in the poem, WWI was a horrendously destructive war. Life in the
trenches of Europe was terrifying and deadly, and the poor conditions caused
frequent sickness and disease. But Brooke didn't see any of that, dying in an
unrelated incident early on into the conflict. Accordingly, this preserved him as
a kind of mythic figure, a reputation also enabled by his handsome looks and
his patriotic sensibilities.
