Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, 1914: 5. THE SOLDIER, by RUPERT BROOKE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

1914: 5. THE SOLDIER, by             Poem Explanation     Poet's Biography
First Line: If I should die, think only this of me
Last Line: In hearts at peace, under an english heaven.
Variant Title(s): The Soldier
Subject(s): Death; England; Environment; Fields; Flowers; Patriotism; Soldiers; Soldiers' Writings; World War I; Dead, The; English; Environmental Protection; Ecology; Conservation; Pastures; Meadows; Leas; First World War


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.




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