Themes and message

The main themes of the poem “The Soldier” by Rupert Brooke are death and patriotism. Both themes are enhanced through the motif of man’s relationship with nature, as death makes the soil richer and England is depicted with references to its natural elements such as “flowers” (l. 6) roads (l. 6) “rivers” (l. 8) and “suns” (l. 8). The message of the author is clearly a patriotic one, as he tries to make the receivers of the poem realise that there is no greater honour than dying for one’s country.

Death

The theme of death is made known to the readers from the first line of the poem - “If I should die” (l. 1) – and is developed by presenting the speaker’s attitude to the possibility of death in war. What is interesting about the approach to death in this poem is the fact that this event is not seen as the end or as something sad and to be feared. The speaker does not fear death, because he sees it as a meaningful act for his country, as the ultimate patriotic stateme...