Riflessioni poetiche sulla morte e il patriottismo inglese

Riflessioni sulla morte e l'Inghilterra

If I should die, think only this of me: A

That there's some corner of a foreign field B

That is for ever England. There shall be A

In that rich earth a richer dust concealed; B

A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, C

Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam; D

A body of England's, breathing English air, C

Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home. D

And think, this heart, all evil shed away, E

A pulse in the eternal mind, no less F

Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given; G

Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day; E

And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness, F

In hearts at peace, under an English heaven. G

Struttura e figure retoriche della poesia

The poem is made up of two stanzas, the first ones consist of 8 lines and the second ones of six lines. Lines have an irregular length and begin with capital letters. There’s a regular punctuation, and a regular rhyme scheme, in the first stanza is ABABCDCD; in the second stanza is EFGEFG. There is a personification, because England is like a mother. There is a simile, too (“dreams happy as her day”).

Interpretazione personale e patriottismo

In this poem, the poet says that if he should die, people have to remember that “there’s some corner of a foreign field // That is for ever England” (line 2 and 3). I really like this sentence because it contains a deep sense of patriotism.

All in all, I think this poem is very touching because it’s about the war, but it celebrates it as the best way to serve one’s motherland..