“The Soldier” Introduction

• Read the full text of “The Soldier”

“The Soldier” Summary

“The Soldier” Themes

• 

  War, Patriotism, and Nationhood

  • See where this theme is active in the poem.

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Soldier”

• Lines 1-4

  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;

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 5-8

  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.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 9-11

  And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
        A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
              Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• Lines 12-14

  Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
        And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
              In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

“The Soldier” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Anaphora

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Caesura

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Consonance

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Personification

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Asyndeton

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

• Diacope

  

  

  

  

  Unlock with LitCharts A⁺
  • See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

“The Soldier” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Bore
• Made Aware
• Roam
• Blest
• Shed

• • See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Soldier”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“The Soldier” Speaker

“The Soldier” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “The Soldier”

More “The Soldier” Resources

• External Resources

  • Learn More About War Poetry — A series of podcast documentaries from the University of Oxford about various aspects of World War I poetry.  

  • First World War Poetry — More poems and an insightful essay about WWI from the Poetry Foundation.

  • Bringing WWI to Life — In this clip, director Peter Jackson discusses his recent WWI film, They Shall Not Grow Old. Though technology, Jackson brings old war footage to vivid life, restoring a sense of the soldiers as actual people.  

  • A Reading of "The Soldier" — The poem read by David Barnes for Librivox.  

  • So Great a Lover: The Life of Rupert Brooke — A BBC documentary exploring the short life and work of Rupert Brooke.  

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Rupert Brooke

  • The Dead (III)

  • The Dead (IV)