Rupert Brooke,The Soldier

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.

Traduzione della poesia

Se dovessi morire, pensa solo questo di me:

che c’è qualche angolo del campo straniero
che sarà per sempre Inghilterra. Ci dovrebbe essere
In quella ricca terra una più ricca polvere nascosta;

una polvere di cui l’Inghilterra si generò, si formò, diventò consapevole,
diede, una volta, i suoi fiori all’amore, le sue vie da esplorare,
un corpo inglese, respirante aria inglese,
lavato dai fiumi, benedetto dal sole di casa.

E pensa, questo cuore, tolto tutto il male,
un battito nella mente eterna, nondimeno
restituisce da qualche parte i pensieri dati dall’Inghilterra;

le sue visioni ed i suoi suoni; sogna felice come il suo giorno;
e la risata, imparata dagli amici; e gentilezza,
nei cuori in pace, sotto un cielo inglese.

WARM UP

1. Focus: a good soldier before everything must be courageous, have a strong sense of duty and justice.

2. Read the poem: The speaking voice is a soldier who is trying to convey a message to future generations. Certainly, he is afraid of dying. However, the thought of being made ​​of “a dust of England bore”, gives him strength. Indeed, the reward to the courage of the soldier will be heaven; his body is blessed and enriched the English enemy territory.

3. Work out: The soldier is a sonnet, made up by two quatrains and two tercets; the rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFG EFG. Indeed the two quatrains are alternating rhymes, while the tercets have a repeated rhyme scheme.

4. Find the images referring to death: And think, this heart, all evil shed away/A pulse in the eternal mind, no less/Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given. The images of the war suggests the difficulty of the situation. Death is a liberation from the evil of war, a necessary step toward paradise.

5. List the imagine connected with England

         a. Landscape: a dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware; a body of England, breathing English air, washed by rivers, blest               by suns of home.

         b. Inner growth and private feelings: this heart, all evil shed away; eternal mind; in hearths at peace

6. What traditional qualities the poet underline? The poet emphasizes the courage of the soldier and his patriotism. Although he hazards of dying at any moment, he sacrifices his life for his country.

7. Define the tone of the poem and summarize its theme. The theme of the poem is the war, a difficult one, fought on enemy soil. The tone of the poem is tragic. This is testified by the dental sounds “D” revealing the harshness of the situation and by the sound “S” to emphasize the sacredness and the request for silence and reflection.