The dead (Brooke)

 

 

 

 

 

Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead!

 

There's none of these so lonely and poor of old,

 

But, dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold

 

These laid the world away; poured out the red

 

Sweet wine of youth; gave up the years to be

 

Of work and joy, and that unhoped serene,

 

That men call age; and those who would have been,

 

Their sons, they gave, their immortality.

 

Blow, bugles, blow! They brought us, for our dearth,

 

Holiness, lacked so long, and Love, and Pain.

 

Honour has come back, as a king, to earth,

 

And paid his subjects with a royal wage;

 

And Nobleness walks in our ways again;

 

And we have come into our heritage.

 

 

III. The dead (1914 and other poems)

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/7086/brooke5.htm#P57

This poem is part of a work written in 1914. This work also includes other poems: Peace, Safety, The Dead II, The Soldier and The treasure. This compilation of poems was written in a very meaningful date: the beginning of the First World War. This was a very important event in the life of Brooke, because he was a soldier, he fought there, and he died during a journey to the Dardanelle’s front (wiki, brooke).

The principal purpose of the author in these poems is reflecting his own war experiences as a soldier and his point of view inside it.

 

This poem is a sonnet with visual phonetic rhyme A-B-B-A-C-D-D-C-E-F-E-F-E-F. Two quartets and two trios compose it.

In the title of the poem it is very explicit what the author wants to tell us and the main theme of the poem: dead; death. You do not need to read this poem and know this poet or something about him to get an idea about what you can find inside it, although you will not know if it has a positive or negative interpretation.

It is curious that the author had chosen the term “Dead” for the title instead of choosing “Death” which apparently is more suitable because it is the theme of the poem. But when you read it you will understand that the author does not want to speak about death, his purpose was more about dedicating this poem to the dead people, specially who fought and died in the war.

 

Brooke has a very patriotic feeling and it is reflected in the first verse, “Blow out, you bugles”, which is repeated later, in the beginning of the first trio. This is like a scream of war, inciting, to give strength for the battle and to be very self-confident. The author uses this verse to pay tribute to the dead people with the song of the bugles.

There are also comparisons with the money: “rich dead” (verse 1), “But, dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold” (verse 3). Here we can understand that for the poet death in battle has no price, but fighting has a great price; you die for your country.

The author personifies terms like Holiness, Love, Honour, Nobleness (verses, 10, 11, 13). He thinks that these things rule the world and its their kings, giving rights, like Middle Age.

In the 4th verse, “These laid the world away”, the author shows the death such as a way to escape from this bored world. This verse could be applied to other authors like Anne Sexton or Sylvia Plath. They had similitude in their way of thinking (biographies, authors).

 

The way in which Rupert Brook expresses his own feelings, his sensations seems to be very heavy; he has a war appearance, although in the verses 5 to 8 he does a reflection of the problems that War brings, the died people and how with this finishes future patriotic descendants. But in spite of this verses could show a negative aspect of the war, Brooke does not see these dead people, it does not matter that they were civil or soldier, have lost their future long lives, he see them as martyrs or war heroes.

In the last verse, “And we have come into our heritage”, the author tries to give a message. He wants to transmit the feeling of nearness to the objectives, they are near of the victory, and all these acts will give results. This is another way to encourage the soldiers. When he says “our” he proves again his patriotic feeling, he writes including him in his nearly victory.

 

There are some poets who have written about these themes. Each one has his own vision. For example Wilfred Owen in his poems complains because the dead people. Brooke see this in different way, he feels more about praise to them. It is for this ways to see this conflict that there were a kind of debate with this poetry, and an attempt to give to the readers another visions of the war, to defend it, or to attack it (history-poetry).

 

Reading this author I can admire his vision of the war and the tributes that he gives to people died during the War, but I also can think that he did not had children because in this case he surely would feel pain to lose them and changed his “wonderful” vision of it. I do not know it, but if he had children, we would respect his ideas in spite of being against it.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

 

AUTHOR:

span lang="ES" style="">- Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Brooke (19&21 May)

 

- The literary enciclopedia

 

http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=587 (19&21 May)

 

 

 

 

POEM:

 

- The Collected Poems of Rupert Brooke.

 

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/7086/brookeidx.htm (19&21 May)