Gedichtsbespreking Engels The Soldier

This poem is a sonnet; it has 14 lines consisting of an octet and a sestet. The poem combines two types of sonnets: the Petrarchan sonnet and the Shakespearean sonnet. The rhyme scheme used in the first octet, ABABCDCD, fits the standard of a Shakespearean sonnet. This is also called traditional rhyme.

However, the rhyme scheme used in the sestet, EFGEFG, fits the standard of a Petrarchan sonnet.  Structurally, it uses the Petrarchan sonnet, since it consists of an octet and a sestet. The volta of the sonnet occurs after line 4, when Brooke goes from talking about what will happen if he dies to talking about the death of a soldier itself.  

It has the iambic pentameter as metrical form.

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One may ask, why did Rupert Brooke combine the Italian sonnet and the English sonnet in his poem? This might have something to do with the position of England during World War I at the time the poem was written. While England and Italy were not fighting, England was about to enter a war that took place in the European continent. By fusing a foreign European poetry form with an English poetry form it symbolizes the tension between England and the rest of Europe.

4.     Historical setting and themes

• British modernism

The onset of Modernism was characterized by many cultural and societal changes. A part of this change was the ongoing Industrial Revolution. People already felt the effects of the Industrial Revolution before the Modern era, but it was becoming a bigger and bigger part of life, with planes and cars being invented. The second big change, a cultural shock, was World War I. Modernism already existed before World War I, but a lot of Modern literature and poetry was written during the war. The Victorian norms and values did not fit these changes, and people began feeling dissatisfied by the many rules and traditions of the Victorian age, which is why Modernist ideas and values gradually became the norm.

• Individualism/consciousness

One of these new values was individualism and consciousness, to see the world through the eyes of oneself. That instead of a fixed reality, there are multiple realities depending on one’s consciousness. The poem of Brooke was in that sense a ‘positive’ war poem, written from his own consciousness. Brooke must have experienced many traumatic things in the war, but he chose to make to not mention any of them in this poem. He chose to use his own positive consciousness in the tone of the poem, despite the fact that everyone was horrified and shocked by the war.

• Experimental poetry structures.

As mentioned above, people were in need of change because of big cultural and societal developments, which included a different approach to literature. Modernism writers had the idea that everything there was to be written had already been written. Modernist writers believed that in order to create new works, they needed to create a completely new genre, using new styles of writing.

That is why poets stopped using traditional, fixed poetry forms. While Brooke did not use an entirely free form of poetry in ‘The soldier’, he did combine two traditional forms of poetry together; see chapter ‘Structure’.

• World war I

This poem is written in 1914, during the start of World War I, also known as the Great War. At the start of the century, it looked like good times were coming ahead in Europe. Many countries were allies of each other, like Belgium and Britain, so they thought they were safe from the enemy Germany and its allies. But then countries started getting into arms races, like Germany and Britain, which lead to tensions.

This meant that a small disagreement between two countries could easily become bigger, mainly because of allyship between countries. World War 1 started when Germany invaded Belgium, and because Belgium and Britain were allies, Britain declared war. This was a big shock for the English citizens. A lot of young men went to Belgium and France, both allies of Britain, to fight with Germany and its allies. Families stayed behind being terrified to lose their sons. The young soldiers faced the terrors of war.

• Patriotism

Before the World War I, there were already tensions in Europe, since many countries felt nationalistic and thought their country was better than the others. This included England. This was one of the main causes of the onset of World war I.

This nationalism/patriotism can obviously be seen in this poem, since Brooke is very proud and patriotic of England; ‘England’ and ‘English’ is used many times throughout the poem. Brooke sees himself a physical part of England and when he dies, a little part of England will reside with his grave. 

• Positive view on the war

Many people found healing support in the war poem of Rupert Brooke during World War I, because although it is a simple poem, everyone could relate to it in some kind of way. The families at home, people who lost friends and family in the war, and of course the soldiers themselves, who had the traumatic experience of needing to fight for their country and see fellow soldiers die. This poem stands out from other war poems since it does not describe anything bad that happened in the war; it is fairly positive and idealistic and that gave people hope.

• Death

This poem is about the death of a soldier. However, it is not a sad or dark poem; it sees the death as a soldier as a sacrifice for their country. Brooke reframes this death to something positive, to something hopeful.

This poem is about the death of a soldier. However, it is not a sad or dark poem; it sees the death as a soldier as a sacrifice for their country. Brooke reframes this death to something positive, to something hopeful.

 5.     Tone

With a lyrical, enthusiastic, tone, the poet glorifies England. He is very optimistic and positive. There are a lot of comma’s mid-line (caesura) to create calmness and rhythm.

6.     Writer

Brooke was one of the war poets of the Modern era. After fighting for Antwerp, and awaiting a new deployment in Britain, he wrote five poems about the war (a sonnet sequence he named ‘1914’), including ‘The soldier’. Brooke must have seen horrible things actively fighting in the war, such as the trenches that were common in the first world war; long, narrow ditches dug as protective defences where the soldiers lived. However, he had a special way of viewing the war; see chapter ‘Historical setting and themes’. In 1914, Brooke died from blood poisoning from a mosquito bite when sailing with the British Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. He was buried on the Greek island Sykros.

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7.    Sources

https://www.enotes.com/topics/soldier/in-depth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Soldier_(poem)
https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/poetry/soldier-brooke/summary
https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/rupert-brooke/the-soldier
https://poemanalysis.com/rupert-brooke/the-soldier/