On this day in 1887, English poet Rupert Brooke, described by W.B. Yeats as “the handsomest young man in England,” is born.
Rupert Chawner Brooke is known for his idealist war sonnets written at the beginning of WWI. While his poem,“The Soldier,” also known as “Nineteen-Fourteen: The Soldier” was immediately popular, looking back there is a nuance of sentimentality, even naïveté.
Robert Brooke died on April 23, 2015 at the beginning the WWI. He was on a ship to the Dardanelles when he died from blood poisoning from an insect bite. I have often wondered if he had lived through the war, whether his poetry would have been more in step with Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, and Robert Graves. Alas, we shall never know.
Poetry is a reflection of a time and place. Rupert Brooke captured the spirit of a nation during a patriotic moment. Some critics,”argue that Brooke’s poetry—especially the “Nineteen Fourteen” sequence—is important as a barometer of England between 1910 and 1915. As Eder states, “Brooke’s war sonnets perfectly captured the mood of the moment.” Poetry Foundation
The Soldier by Rupert Brooke
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.
On The Road Book Club 
HI Rebecca, I think Rupert Brooke had rather typical English looks. He looks just like an English gentleman. A lovely tribute to his poetry. I have this poem in more than one war poetry collection.
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That is the perfect description, Robbie! – Rupert Brooke does indeed look like a English gentleman. I often wonder how his poetry would have evolved had he lived to see the end of the dreadful war.
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Yes, I think that about a lot of authors/poets who died young.
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A poem by the handsomest man in England! ! His poem says a lot to me. His death (or a death of any Englishmen) and the body placed in the earth of a foreign country would leave in the dust an important part of the beloved England. A very important fact and beautiful picture.
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Thank you, Frances for your comments. When I look at Dad in his WWII uniform, my heart breaks at how young he looks. And yet there is a determination and resolve in his face. As JRR Tolkien said in the LOTR: “The world is full enough of hurts and mischances without wars to multiply them.”
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This poem is definitely reflective of the beginning of the war.
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I am going to look into his life, Liz. Rupert Brooke had friends among the Bloomsbury group of writers. He also belonged to Georgian Poets and was one of the most important of the Dymock poets. This group included Robert Frost. There are so many stories intertwined.
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