The Soldier
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;
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.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.
“The soldier” is a poem by RUPERT BROOKE, a have already mentioned him in my previous analysis, this poem has two stanza, the first stanza had two separated ABAB rhyme scheme, both with different rhymes, the second stanza used a ABCABC rhyme scheme, which I had never read before, the poem also used a lot of personification and metaphor.
The poem was filled with the love of the country, so he wanted to say that if he die anywhere, it will be England’s because he spread his nutrient in that part of ground, and his body is been grazed by the country, so the whole poem is just a praise of the author to his country and the sprite of face death unflinchingly.
Analysis me, Mary, and Samantha did
I think your intended meaning here is clearer than your previous analyses 😀
However, are you sure there are two stanza? As you’ve shared the poem in this blog post, there is only one stanza.
Also, check the rhyme scheme lettering carefully. Since you have identified the interesting rhyme scheme, can you explain/describe what effect that has? Does it evoke any particular feeling or emotional response? Does it create any particular pattern of sound when read aloud that reminds you of anything?
I don’t think ‘sprite’ is the correct word. Maybe ‘spirit’?
Keep up the good work!!
Ya I remember there are two stanza and I checked, but I think I messed up with the copy and paste so the system didn’t shows the blank between the stanzas, there should be a blank between the 8th line and 9th line.
Ah, notice that you are describing one of the features of a sonnet: octave (or two quatrains making up a stanza of 8 lines) and a sestet (a stanza of six lines). So, the first stanza has a typical Shakespearean sonnet rhyme scheme, but the second stanza has a less familiar rhyme scheme which is actually a kind of traditional Petrarchan rhyme scheme (so not unusual). So it seems that this is a sonnet mixing two different kinds of traditional rhyme scheme, which is perhaps why it feels a bit unusual. What effect does this have on the reader? Do you think it means anything?