Moderate

Rupert Brooke's "The Soldier" opens with the following lines: "If I should die, think only this of me:/That there's some corner of a foreign field/That is for ever England." Which of the following statements best describes these lines and Brooke's poem as a whole ?

Correct answer: A. These lines and the poem as a whole use both the political concept of a nation and the spiritual concept of eternity to give meaning to soldiers' deaths on the battlefield.

  • A. These lines and the poem as a whole use both the political concept of a nation and the spiritual concept of eternity to give meaning to soldiers' deaths on the battlefield.
  • B. These lines and the poem as a whole are primarily concerned with the extension of Britain's imperial power.
  • C. These lines and the poem as a whole seek to directly express the horrors of war.
  • D. These lines and the poem as a whole rely on assonance to magnify the critique of war expressed in the poem.

Explanation

Brooke links the political idea of England with the spiritual permanence of the dead soldier’s identity, turning a foreign battlefield into English soil. The poem idealizes sacrifice rather than depicting the physical horrors of war.

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