Rupert Brooke: a reappraisal of the alleged recruiting poet

Abstract

This dissertation will attempt to provide a comprehensive survey of life and poetry of one of the leading representatives of the first generation of Georgian poets, the charismatic Rupert Brooke. In the first chapter, the dissertation will explore the first decade of the twentieth century in England. At the beginning of the twentieth century, England relinquished the Victorian Age with the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 and entered the Edwardian Age with the new king Edward VII. In the following chapter, having introduced the historical background, the attention will be devoted to the literary scene at the turn of the century. Notwithstanding the flourishing of Edwardian novel and drama, poetry was still influenced by the worship of Victorian classics. In fact, with the sole exception of Thomas Hardy, it is possible to assume that poetry had been in a state of atrophy up to 1911. In that year, a poetic revival began to renew public interest and poetry itself underwent radical changes. This poetic surge led to the publication of the first anthology edited by Edward Marsh in 1912, The Georgian Poetry. Rupert Brooke may be considered as the best known of the poets involved in Marsh’s project; he contributed to the first two Anthologies. In the third chapter, Rupert Brooke’s life and poetry will be introduced. The main body of the chapter will explore his fine verse. After having examined the life of the poet, his prose will be taken into account. In addition, his private correspondences and his experience as explorer will be investigated. A further aspect described in the chapter will be his premature death in the Aegean Sea, on his way to the Dardanelles Campaign. The aim of this dissertation is to attempt to demonstrate that Rupert Brooke was not a mere recruiting poet.