Rupert Brooke

1. Rupert Brooke The Dead By Kathleen Plummer

2. Structure and Form and Language… The poem is one of Rupert Brooke’s sonnets. It has a standard sonnet form of fourteen lines, all with similar length and number of syllables. This choice in form is not very typical of war poetry as sonnets represent love and affection, whereas war poetry is either has a strong anti-war theme and expresses the hatred, or glorifies death, as shown in The Dead, by calling the dead soldiers “the rich dead”. However the poet may have used this form as the poem expresses the idealised romantic vision of war, by showing that the young men have died for their country because of their love for it and therefore willing enough to give up their future for their country’s sake. The language used in this poem is patriotic yet is has quite a harsh tone to it. It uses negative and positive language, as it mentions death and “dying” constantly, yet describes them in words as “rich” and “sweet”.

3. Meaning… The poem is about the glorification of war and how dying in battle will be rewarded with “honour” and “nobleness”. It describes the dead as if they are lucky and “rich” to have done something so great as dying in battle. It also mentions how they have “gave up” everything they had, such as “work and joy”, “unhoped serene” and “their immortality”. However it says they have received “rarer gifts than gold” and a “royal wage”. Brooke continues to glorify the soldiers throughout the poem by saying that “Honour has come back” because of their deaths and they have “come into our heritage”.

4. The first section… They are lucky to have died in battle The soldiers who died were young Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead!   There's none of these so lonely and poor of old,   But, dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold.These laid the world away; poured out the redSweet wine of youth; gave up the years to be   Of work and joy, and that unhoped serene,   That men call age; and those who would have been,Their sons, they gave, their immortality. Not lonely because so many have died. Death is a “gift” which emphasises how traumatic the war actually was Metaphor for the blood They gave up everything they had and what they would have had to die for their country A list of everything they have lost: old age, a normal job, happiness, a peaceful life, family and a long life.

5. The second section… This section moves on from what they lost to what they have received The “king” is a personification of “Honour”, which returns to the “rich” theme shown at the beginning Blow, bugles, blow! They brought us, for our dearth,   Holiness, lacked so long, and Love, and Pain.Honour has come back, as a king, to earth,   And paid his subjects with a royal wage;And Nobleness walks in our ways again;   And we have come into our heritage. The “royal wage” is death and peace of mind What they lost, shown in the first stanza, has been replaced with rewards such as “Love”, “Honour” and “Nobleness” “Honour” and “Nobleness” have returned to England now that young men have died for it and have given up everything they had to protect it

6. Connections and Comparisons… Millions of the mouthless dead – glorification of death in war. Peace and The soldier – these poems are also sonnets by Brooke, similar structure, form and glorification of death and war. Birdsong – contrasts as it shows the realities of war, not glorification.