BROOKE, Rupert

"If I should die, think only this of me: That there's some corner of a foreign field, That is forever England."

Rupert Brooke was born in the Warwickshire town of Rugby on 3rd August, 1887. He attended Rugby School where his father was headmaster and during his time at the school Brooke’s love of poetry blossomed. He won the school's poetry prize in 1905 and he began to make regular contributions to school and literary magazines.

Brooke won a scholarship to King's College Cambridge where he was extremely popular., his wide circle of friends including Winston Churchill, Virginia Woolf and W.B. Yeats. Brooke's golden good looks were admired by friends, with Yeats once describing him as “the handsomest man in England.”

During his lifetime Brooke had only one book of poetry published. Simply titled Poems, the volume was published by Sidgwick & Jackson on December 4^th, 1911.

Brooke suffered bouts of depression brought on by complications in his in love life and by way of an escape spent time travelling around America and the South Seas. He returned to England at the outbreak of World War One and enlisted in the Royal Naval Division.

In December 1914 Brooke’s war sonnets were published in the poetical quarterly, New Numbers. On Easter Sunday (4^th April) 1915 Dr Inge, Dean of St. Paul’s quoted the sonnet, “If I should die” in his Easter sermon.

On April 23rd 1915 Brooke, then aged 27, was killed en route to Gallipoli. His war sonnets gained a rush of publicity and were published in book form shortly after Brooke’s death. The sonnets which summed up the patriotic mood of the nation at the beginning of the war became hugely popular leading to Brooke being considered one of  nation's most influential war poets.

Scroll down to see first editions of Rupert Brooke's work.