Rupert Brooke: 'The Soldier' and Georgian Poetry

• War Poets are known for writing about war

Rupert Brooke

• Born in 1887 in Warwickshire, England.
• Studied at Cambridge University and began writing poetry.
• Early works idealized the English countryside, depicting rural life with beauty and nostalgia.
• Published "Georgian Poetry, 1911-1912" in 1912, aligning with the Georgian Poets movement which rejected Victorian poetry's moralizing style.
• Georgian Poets explored themes of nature, beauty, and melancholy, seen in Brooke’s works.

World War I

• Published "1914 & Other Poems" in 1915, the same year he died.
• The collection offered an idealistic portrayal of war, making Brooke a well-known figure early in WWI.
• Brooke had limited direct combat experience due to contracting blood poisoning and being hospitalized.
• He romanticized war as a purifying force and heroic sacrifice due to his lack of direct exposure to its brutality.

"The Soldier"

• Poem is from a soldier's perspective, reflecting on potential death in war.
• The soldier desires to be remembered by having the foreign land where he dies forever carry a piece of England.
• The soldier believes his body will enrich the land, and his soul will return to an eternal, pure state tied to England.
• Death is viewed as a reunion with England, imagining an "English heaven" symbolizing peace.
• The poem equated a soldier’s body with the land of England, expressing patriotism and heroism, reflecting early 20th-century sentiments.
• Penned in 1914, during the first year of World War I, reflecting a soldier's idealistic love for England.
• The soldier thinks England shaped him and his soul will return to the country after death.
• The poem was popular early in the war due to high enthusiasm and patriotism.
• It was later viewed as naive for not depicting the harshness of war.

Themes in "The Soldier"

• War, Patriotism, and Nationhood: Explores the connection between a soldier and England; death in a foreign land leaves a part of England there.
• England as an Idyllic Place: Views England as a nurturing paradise with imagery emphasizing land and people connection.
• Death and the Afterlife: Death is seen as a return to England, with consciousness joining an "eternal mind" linked to England and an imagined "English heaven".
• Idealism and Naïveté: Lacks true war horrors, reflecting early patriotic enthusiasm, later seen as naive and sentimental.

Siegfried Sassoon

• British poet who served in the British Army during World War I.

"Suicide in the Trenches"

• Opens by depicting a joyful young man’s life before the war, which changes drastically in the trenches.
• The man shoots himself due to constant explosions, stress, and harsh conditions, and his death is quickly forgotten.
• The poem criticizes people at home who cheer on soldiers without understanding their suffering
• A warning is issued to those who cheer for war, stating they shouldn't experience its hellish conditions.
• Poem published in 1918 in "Counter-Attack and Other Poems"
• Contrasts romanticized war views popular at the time, especially those of Rupert Brooke.
• It is based on Sassoon's experiences to expose war's grim reality
• Criticizes the public back home for encouraging young men to die without knowing the truth about war.

Themes in "Suicide in the Trenches"

• The Tragedy and Horror of War: Presents war's devastating impact on a soldier, contrasting youthful innocence with despair.
• Innocence Lost: War robs a carefree soldier of innocence, pushing him to suicide.
• Criticism of Public Support for War: Criticizes the "smug-faced crowds" who support war from a safe distance.
• The Futility of War: A soldier’s suicide is a tragic outcome of war where death is preferable to a hellish existence.

"Base Details"

• The speaker imagines being an unfit, balding army major living comfortably away from the battlefield.
• These majors indulge in luxury while sending young men to fight and die.
• The majors dismissively discuss the deaths of soldiers they once knew.
• Officers casually downplay the seriousness of soldiers’ sacrifices, calling battles "scraps".
• After the war, these untouched officers return home to die comfortably, escaping the dangers soldiers faced.
• Poem published in 1918 is a satirical war poem
• It criticizes high-ranking military officers living comfortably away from the front line while sending soldiers to die.
• It shows the stark contrast between the officers’ privileged life and the soldiers’ harsh reality.

Themes in "Base Details"

• War and Power: Critiques power imbalance; officers control war decisions while being far removed from its horrors.
• Disconnection from Reality: Shows the military elite are disconnected from the realities of the front lines.
• Callous Attitude Towards Death: Majors are portrayed as uncaring, treating soldier's lives as expendable.
• Two Different Experiences of War: Contrasts officers’ safety and comfort with soldiers' death, portraying war as a game controlled by elites.

“Base Details” Classroom Notes

• The word "base" means without any moral value.
• Lines 1-2 are written in the second conditional because the situation described is unlikely to occur.
• “Short of breath” means not fit and fat because of the rhum.
• Majors are fat, drunk, unfit, and not proud.
• "Scarlet" refers to the red color of the majors' uniforms and their red faces due to avoiding deprivation.
• Line 4 features alliteration: "puffy petulant".
• "The best hotel" symbolizes the majors' comfort while soldiers fought at the front.
• "Scrap" implies a minor battle where many lost their lives.
• "Toddle" suggests unsteady walking due to drunkenness.
• A Major dies in bed, while soldiers die at the front in terrible conditions.
• The poem exposes the gap between the lives of soldiers and high-ranking officers.
• It in particular points out their insensitivity to the tragedy of war.

Wilfred Owen

• English poet known for vivid depictions of war's brutal realities

"Dulce et Decorum Est"

• Begins with exhausted soldiers marching through a muddy battlefield, likened to beggars.
• A gas attack occurs, and one soldier fails to put on his mask in time, resulting in a horrific death.
• The speaker is haunted by the soldier's death and describes the man's tortured face and bloodied coughs.
• The poem rejects the idealized notion of honorable dying for one’s country.

ANALISI

• Poem written between August 1917 and September 1918,
• Owen challenges the glorified image of war, contrasting the romanticized ideal with the gruesome truth.
• Owen critiques the belief in the glory of war.

Themes

• The Horror and Trauma of War: Depicts the brutal physical and psychological suffering of soldiers during World War I.
• The Enduring Myth that War is Glorious: Challenges the idealized image of heroic death, contrasting it with the horrific reality faced by soldiers and condemning the lie of it being sweet and fitting to die for one's country.

“Dulce Et Decorum Est” Classroom Notes

• Owen died in the war shortly before the armistice.
• He despised patriotism, unlike other war poets.
• The title means it is sweet and honorable to die for one’s own country.
• "We" indicates he speaks for all the soldiers.
• "Bent double" signifies exhaustion and wounds.
• "Like old beggars under sacks" illustrates the state of the soldiers' uniforms.
• "Knock-kneed" is an alliteration.
• "Coughing like hags" is a simile.
• "Haunting flares" hints at constant bombs.
• Line 4 mentions going to a safer place to rest.
• "Men marched asleep" is a metaphor, showing exhaustion.
• Caesura is used in line 6.
• "All blind" and "drunk with fatigue" are metaphors.
• "Hoots" is an onomatopoeia (whistle).
• "Softly" is an out-of-place, sweet word and implies that gas-shells are not as noisy as other bombs.
• The soldiers are caught in a gas fight after the second stanza.
• helmets protect the soldier from the gas
• "And floundering like a man in fire or lime" is a simile.
• "Panes" refers to the glass of the mask.
• "As under a green sea" reinforces the idea that the man is drowning.
• "Helpless sight" means the speaker can assist his mate.
• "Choking" is onomatopoeia.
• "If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace" is a second conditional.
• "Smothering" refers to smoke and soldiers dying choked.
• "You too" indicates the poet witnessed it.
• "Watch the white eyes writhing" is alliteration.
• "His hanging face" illustrates the soldier died with his mouth open, trying to breathe.
• "Like a devil’s sick of sin" is a simile and alliteration.
• The entire third stanza is a dream.
• "Gargling" is onomatopoeia.
• "Incurable sores on innocent tongues" alludes to sores in the mouths of those who inhaled gas.
• "Children" refers to soldiers that went to the front.
• The quotation "Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori" is from Horace.
• "Lie" is capitalized to convey importance.

Explore Rupert Brooke's life, works like 'The Soldier', and association with the Georgian poets. Understand his romanticized war poems, their themes, and the movement's rejection of Victorian ideals. Analyze the poem's concept of English identity and critique of war.