"The Soldier" by Rupert Brooke: Language, theme and treatment of the subject matter

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"The Soldier" by Rupert Brooke: Write a critical appreciation of the poem, paying special attention to the language, the theme and the treatment of the subject matter.

        "The Soldier" is an Italian sonnet written in iambic pentameter. It has an English rhyme scheme for the octave and an Italian rhyme scheme for the sestet. The sonnet is about a soldier's somewhat idealistic view of war of how people should not mourn for the dead of a war but instead be proud that they have done their country proud. The mood of the poem is blissful and reminiscent. The two main themes of the sonnet are about patriotism and war.

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        At the beginning of the sonnet, the poet states that one should "think only this of me". The choice of the word "only" shows how the poet believes that the following is what is worth thinking about and that they should not bother about anything else concerning his death. This already shows how he ignores the fact about the cruelty of war and how he believes that personal loyalty to the country overrides everything else, even the losing of large numbers of young men's lives.

        In the next line, he writes about how, if he dies, there would be ...

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There is some engagement with the poem, and the writer does attempt to answer the question throughout. Whilst there are paragraphs which show the ability to analyse in a detailed manner using the Point, Evidence, Analysis structure, some of the points do not develop analysis fully and do not employ enough technical vocabulary. The sonnet form is largely ignored, except for a brief reference in the introduction, and structural features of rhythm and rhyme are not explored. Three stars. ***