Life and works

Rupert Brooka was born in 1887 and educated atRugby School and Cambridge University. He was well-known as a poet before 1914 when he joyned the Navy. He wrote his five famuos war sonnet, of which "The Soldier" is one, when he was home on leave. He saw little action, as he died for blood poisoning in 1915 while on his way to take part in the Dardanelles campaign against Turkey. His poems were published posthumously as Collected Poems in 1918.

National Symbol

His early death on war service turned him into the symbol of the young hero. His poetry achieved immediate fame. The sonnet "The soldier" became one of the war's most popular poems. War is not seen as a cruel, dreadful experience and death in war is nota tragic but a noble end. The imaginery is smooth and sweet like rythms. The poem was so successful because it caught the patriotic and idealistic mood of the momente before the British people realized the full horror of the war. Later reactin set in against his rather sentimental attitude to war and his fine words and smooth rhythms.although only a minor poet, Brooke wrote a number of populasr poems, besides the war sonnets, several of which have retained their popularity.