The Soldier by Rupert Brooke | KS3 History | History Bombs

1. World War One

1.7.2 The Soldier


Lesson description

World War One changed the way people viewed war forever. It introduced the world to modern warfare – and all its horrors – and one surprising result was the wave of literature and poems that it inspired, by those fighting on the front line and further afield.

This lesson contains:

  • A close look at two famous World War One poems written by soldiers who fought in the war: ‘The Soldier’ by Rupert Brooke, and ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ by Wilfred Owen.
  • An analysis of the two poems and the contrasting and similar approaches they adopt towards fighting in World War One and the soldier experience.
  • A closer study of what can be learnt about the soldiers’ experience through reading World War One poetry and an alternative way of studying the realities of trench warfare.