The Soldier

What do lines 2-3 reveal about the speaker?

• The speaker believes, and perhaps even wishes, that he will die.

• The speaker is deeply devoted to his home country of England.

• The speaker believes he will never (mentally) return home.

• The speaker is melancholic and homesick, wishing he was back in England.

What does the “dust” mentioned in lines 4-5 likely represent?

• The enemy

• Soldiers who have died in war

• The soldier himself

• Future generations

Which of the following best describes the difference between the two stanzas?

• The first stanza is about the possibility of the speaker dying in battle and how England has shaped him, whereas the second stanza talks about what his afterlife will be like.

• In stanza 1, the speaker holds out hope that he may return home; by stanza 2, this hope is all but extinguished.

• The first stanza praises England, while the second stanza criticizes it for sending the soldier to war.

• In stanza 1, the speaker discusses how he will never be the same, a part of him buried on foreign soil; in stanza 2, he is more optimistic, for he will always have memories of his old life.

Which of the following statements best summarizes the effect the imagery has on the overall poem?

• The imagery of death and battle contributes to the central theme of war and how it changes not only the physical landscape but that of people as well.

• The imagery presented, detailing rich earth and plant life, contributes to the idea of nature as cyclical, that life and death have a purpose in said circle.

• The idealized imagery contributes to the central theme of faith, for it conjures ideas of heaven and the afterlife.

• The imagery of beautiful nature (specifically of idyllic English nature) contributes to the poem’s sense and tone of devotion to England.

Which of the following quotes best supports the effect that imagery has on the poem?

• “That is forever England. There shall be / In that rich earth a richer dust concealed” (Lines 3-4)

• “A body of England’s, breathing English air, / Washed by the rivers, blessed by suns of home.” (Lines 7-8)

• “And think, this heart, all evil shed away, / A pulse in the eternal mind, no less” (Lines 9-10)

• "In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.” (Line 14)