Rupert Brooke, “The Soldier” (1914) If I should die, think…
Rupert Brooke, “The Soldier” (1914) If I should die, think only this of me:That there’s some corner of a foreign fieldThat is for ever England. There shall beIn 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 lessGives 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. When discussing Brooke’s poem early in the semester, we highlighted the bolded opening line of the poem “If I should die, think only this of me” and discussed the conditional usage of “If” and the rhetorical impact it has. Which of the following best describes some of the key aspects of this word choice/phrasing?
Read Details