Pre-reading
Exercise n. 1
Focus on the title. What do yuo expect the poem to be about?
While-reading
Exercise n. 2
Read the poem and say:
1. who is speaking.
2. if he is afraid of death.
3. where his grave will be.
4. how his dead body will enrich the soil.
5. if there is emphasis on war.
6. who you think the poet is speaking to.
Exercise n. 3
Find the images refering to death. What idea do they suggest? Choose from among the following:
- waste
- immortality
- glory
- safety
- violence
- peace
Exercise n. 3
Focus on the images connected with England present in the poem.
1. List them under the following headings: landscape, inner growth and private feelings.
2. What is the poetic device the poet uses to describe his country?
3. How does the poet view England? What traditional qualities does he stress?
Post-reading
Three days after Brooke's death Winston Churchill wrote an obituary
"He was all that one would wish England's noblest sons to be in days when no sacrifice but the most precious is acceptable, and the most precious is that which is mostly freely proffered".
What aspect of the historical period do Churchill's words and Brooke's poem reflect?
