The Soldier

BSEB Class 12 English Poem 6 The Soldier Summary, Explanation along with Difficult Word Meanings from Rainbow Book

The Soldier – BSEB Class 12 English Poem 6 The Soldier Summary and detailed line by line explanations of the poem along with the meanings of difficult words.

 

BSEB Class 12 English Rainbow Book Poem 6 – The Soldier

By Rupert Brooke

 

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The Soldier Introduction

Brooke is remembered as a ‘war poet’ who inspired patriotism in the early phase of the First World War. His reputation chiefly rests on five war sonnets of which ‘The soldier’ is undoubtedly the best and the most anthologised. 

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The Soldier Summary

The poem ‘The Soldier’ written By Rupert Brooke has a patriotic approach. The thoughts of a soldier towards his motherland with his immense desire to sacrifice his life are reflected in the poem. In the first stanza of the poem ‘The Soldier’ the poet admires England and expresses his gratitude to it. The poet says, if he dies, he wants people to only think of one thing, that there is some corner in a foreign country that is forever England. The poet means that if he dies in the war he wants to be remembered in a particular way. He wants people to think of how the far-off land on which he died would have a small piece of England forever. The poet further describes his death that if he dies, his body will be buried in the earth. The earth will be enriched by his dead body because his body is made from dirt born in England. He explains how England created him and gave him consciousness. England gave him its blooming plants to fall in love with and gave him his sense of freedom. His body belonged to England and he always breathed English air. England’s rivers cleansed him and he was blessed by England’s Sun. The poet implied that England was mother to him. His love for England and his willingness to sacrifice was equivalent to a son’s love for his mother; but more than an ordinary son, he could actually give his life to her. Basically, England played the role of the dust which was the soldier’s mother. 

In the second stanza of the poem the poet wanted his readers to consider the way in which his soul, through death, would be made pure. His consciousness would be returned to the immortal consciousness like a beating pulse, returned the beautiful thoughts that England gave him. The poet perhaps wanted to say that when the soldier went to heaven, he would become part of that larger, unending being and perhaps re-experience, in the form of a pulse, all the thoughts given by England. The poet meant that he would re-experience everything he once knew of England which was his home, after he died. The poet would return to the sights and sounds of his home country and to the beautiful dreams that were as happy as England’s daytime. The poet wanted the laughter to be shared with English friends and he would return to England’s gentleness which lived in the English minds that were at peace under the English sky. The poet painted a very joyous, peaceful picture of life after death that would be much like his happiest times spent in England.

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The Soldier Summary in Hindi

रूपर्ट ब्रुक द्वारा लिखित कविता सोल्जरदेशभक्तिपूर्ण दृष्टिकोण रखती है। अपने जीवन का बलिदान देने की असीम इच्छा वाले एक सैनिक के अपनी मातृभूमि के प्रति विचार कविता में परिलक्षित होते हैं। सोल्जरकविता के पहले छंद में कवि इंग्लैंड की प्रशंसा करता है और उसके प्रति अपना आभार व्यक्त करता है। कवि कहता है, यदि वह मर जाए, तो वह चाहता है कि लोग केवल एक ही बात सोचें, कि विदेशी देश में कोई कोना है जो हमेशा के लिए इंग्लैंड है। कवि का तात्पर्य यह है कि यदि वह युद्ध में मर जाता है तो वह चाहता है कि उसे एक विशेष तरीके से याद किया जाए। वह चाहता है कि लोग सोचें कि जिस सुदूर भूमि पर उसकी मृत्यु हुई, उस पर हमेशा के लिए इंग्लैंड का एक छोटा सा टुकड़ा कैसे रहेगा। कवि उनकी मृत्यु का वर्णन करते हुए आगे कहता है कि यदि वह मर गया तो उसका शरीर धरती में दफना दिया जायेगा। उनके मृत शरीर से पृथ्वी समृद्ध होगी क्योंकि उनका शरीर इंग्लैण्ड में जन्मी मिट्टी से बना है। वह बताते हैं कि कैसे इंग्लैंड ने उन्हें बनाया और चेतना दी। इंग्लैंड ने उसे प्यार करने के लिए अपने फूल वाले पौधे दिए और उसे स्वतंत्रता की भावना दी। उनका शरीर इंग्लैंड का था और वे हमेशा अंग्रेजी हवा में सांस लेते थे। इंग्लैंड की नदियों ने उसे साफ़ कर दिया और उसे इंग्लैंड के सूर्य का आशीर्वाद मिला। कवि का तात्पर्य था कि इंग्लैंड उसकी माँ है। इंग्लैंड के प्रति उनका प्रेम और बलिदान देने की उनकी इच्छा एक बेटे के अपनी माँ के प्रति प्रेम के समान थी; लेकिन एक सामान्य बेटे से भी बढ़कर, वह वास्तव में उसे अपना जीवन दे सकता था। मूल रूप से, इंग्लैंड ने धूल की भूमिका निभाई जो सैनिक की माँ थी।

कविता के दूसरे छंद में कवि चाहता था कि उसके पाठक इस बात पर विचार करें कि मृत्यु के माध्यम से उसकी आत्मा को किस प्रकार शुद्ध किया जाएगा। उनकी चेतना धड़कती हुई धड़कन की तरह अमर चेतना में लौट आएगी, वे सुंदर विचार लौटाए जाएंगे जो इंग्लैंड ने उन्हें दिए थे। कवि शायद यह कहना चाहता था कि जब सैनिक स्वर्ग जाएगा, तो वह उस विशाल, अनंत अस्तित्व का हिस्सा बन जाएगा और शायद इंग्लैंड द्वारा दिए गए सभी विचारों को एक नाड़ी के रूप में फिर से अनुभव करेगा। कवि का अभिप्राय यह था कि मरने के बाद वह इंग्लैंड के बारे में जो कुछ भी जानता था, जो कि उसका घर था, वह सब कुछ फिर से अनुभव करेगा। कवि अपने देश के दृश्यों और ध्वनियों और उन खूबसूरत सपनों की ओर लौटेगा जो इंग्लैंड के दिन के समान सुखद थे। कवि चाहता था कि हंसी अंग्रेज मित्रों के साथ साझा की जाए और वह इंग्लैंड की सज्जनता की ओर लौट आए जो अंग्रेजी आकाश के नीचे शांति से रहने वाले अंग्रेजी दिमागों में रहती थी। कवि ने मृत्यु के बाद जीवन का एक बहुत ही आनंददायक, शांतिपूर्ण चित्र चित्रित किया जो इंग्लैंड में बिताए गए उनके सबसे सुखद समय के समान होगा।

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Video Explanation of The Soldier

 

The Soldier Poem Explanation

Poem:
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. 

Word meaning
Foreign-
a land or country other than one’s own
Concealed- hidden
Vanishes– hidden
Bore- gave birth
Roam- walk or travel without a definite aim

Explanation of the above poem : In the first stanza of the poem ‘The Soldier’ the poet admired England and expressed his gratitude to it. The poet said, if he died, he wanted people to only think of one thing, that there was some corner in a foreign country that was forever England. The poet meant that if he died in the war he wanted to be remembered in a particular way. He wanted people to think of how the far-off land on which he died would have a small piece of England forever. If he died on the battlefield, that piece of land would be “claimed” by England because wars were sometimes fought, after all, over land. The poet further described his death that if he died, his body would be buried in the earth. The earth would be enriched by his dead body because his body was made from dirt born in England. He explained how England created him and gave him consciousness. England gave him his blooming plants to fall in love with and gave him his sense of freedom. His body belonged to England and he always breathed English air. England’s rivers cleansed him and he was blessed by England’s sun. The poet implied that England was mother to him. His love for England and his willingness to sacrifice was equivalent to a son’s love for his mother; but more than an ordinary son, he could actually give his life to her. Basically, England played the role of the dust which was the soldier’s mother. 

 

Poem:
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. 

Word meaning
Pulse
– vibration
Eternal– lasting forever
Gentleness– mildness, tenderness 

Explanation of the above poem : In the second stanza of the poem the poet wanted his readers to consider the way in which his soul, through death, would be made pure. His consciousness would be returned to the immortal consciousness like a beating pulse, and returned the beautiful thoughts that England gave him. The poet perhaps wanted to say that when the soldier went to heaven, he would become part of that larger, unending being and perhaps re-experience, in the form of a pulse, all the thoughts given by England. The poet meant that he would re-experience everything he once knew of England which was his home after he died. The poet would return to the sights and sounds of his home country and to the beautiful dreams that were as happy as England’s daytime. The poet wanted the laughter to be shared with English friends and he would return to England’s gentleness which lived in the English minds that were at peace under the English sky. The poet painted a very joyous, peaceful picture of life after death that would be much like his happiest times spent in England.

 

Poetic/Literary Devices

Following poetic/literary devices have been used in the poem The Soldier:

  1. Rhyme scheme- ababcdcd , cdecde
  2. Anaphora – when two or more consecutive lines begin with the same word. Lines 2 and 3-
    That there’s some corner of a foreign field
    That is for ever England. There shall be
  3. Personification- Personification is giving human characteristics to animals or non-living things. The personification of England seems to have given life, shaped/built, taught, and loved the soldier; representing England as the position of a mother.
  4. Assonance- Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds across a line of text or poetry. Me, Be and Field, Concealed are the examples of assonance in this poem.
  5. Alliteration-  It is the repetition of consonant sound in the line. Examples of alliteration are f in “foreign field,” the play on “rich” and “richer” in the fourth line, blest by.
  6. Consonance – The prominence of a consonant sound in a line- the sonorous b, s, and r sounds of the seventh and eighth lines, and the s, d, l, and h sounds in the last three lines.

 

BSEB Class 12 English Lessons Explanation

 

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