The significance of the First World War can’t get limited to only the archive of the world’s power balance in history books. It possesses a literary relevance too. In truth, it remained a powerful platform in bringing many war poets and their poetic expertise to public notice. The visible poetic craft of Rupert Brooke manifests this truth.
The famous English poet is familiar to readers as a typical war poet. His most discussed and probably the most accredited poem, “The Soldier,” conferred him this title. Modern readers to date recognize his words “If I should die, think only this of me” in the poem as a pure resonance of the best war poetry. Even several analects of the twentieth-century verse adopt these words to portray a deeper philosophical aspect.
Brooke’s poetic creations are not vast. His kingdom of war poetry is limited to a comparatively small volume. However, his poems relate to the young and cultured human mind. His early works unfold the reality of cynicism or distrust and moral decline.
However, after a short tour of crude realism, the English poet chose to pave the garden of simple pleasure. He embraced nature as his prime poetic inspiration.
Content associated with simplicity became the dominant theme of his works. His words defined the healthy and youthful delight of life. A meaningfully subtle and delicate touch emerged as the signature style of his poetic observation. Without any doubt, several poems of Brooke unfolded unadulterated appreciations of natural beauty. As a result, the poetic craft of Rupert Brooke found a glorious place in Georgian poetry with all the mentioned traits.
Now, despite Brooke’s unquestionable delicacy in poetic presentation, critics still go for criticize his works. According to some critics, the eminent English poet seldom delved deep into the inner notion of realism. Some even choose to identify his poetry as lacking depth and ingenuity.
Several critics even prefer further hammer his reputation by pinpointing his attitude as a war poet. It is an undeniable bitter reality that the famous poet’s sentimentality and a different keen observation of war ensured a decline in his popularity.
But these criticisms can’t undermine the great potentialities hiding in his words. Many readers still believe that Rupert Brooke possessed excellent metrical skills. And because of this, his verse acquired lucid simplicity that is acutely visible in the current time even after crossing many decades. Simultaneously, his chosen poem contents remain an essential part of learning for modern poets. The style of developing unique content shows how it plays a dominant role in making poetic verse simple yet appealing.
