“The Dead (III)” Summary

“The Dead (III)” Themes

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  Wartime Sacrifice and Glory

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Dead (III)”

• Lines 1-3

  Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead!
        There’s none of these so lonely and poor of old,
        But, dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 4-7

  These laid the world away; poured out the red
  Sweet wine of youth; gave up the years to be
        Of work and joy, and that unhoped serene,
        That men call age;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 7-8

  and those who would have been,
  Their sons, they gave, their immortality.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-10

  Blow, bugles, blow! They brought us, for our dearth,
        Holiness, lacked so long, and Love, and Pain,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-14

  Honour has come back, as a king, to earth,
        And paid his subjects with a royal wage;
  And Nobleness walks in our ways again;
        And we have come into our heritage.

  

  

  

  

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“The Dead (III)” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Apostrophe

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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“The Dead (III)” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Bugles
• Rich
• Of old
• But
• Laid the world away
• Unhoped
• Serene
• Immortality
• Dearth
• Royal wage
• Heritage

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Dead (III)”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“The Dead (III)” Speaker

“The Dead (III)” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “The Dead (III)”

More “The Dead (III)” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Bugle in World War I — An article detailing the military uses of the bugle in the WWI era.

  • A Film on WWI Poetry — Watch a video introduction to the poetry of the First World War, courtesy of the British Library.

  • The Poet's Life — Read a biography of Brooke at the Poetry Foundation.

  • Poets of WWI — Check out the Poetry Foundation's introduction to World War I poets, including Brooke.

  • "The True Story of Rupert Brooke" — An in-depth look at Rupert Brooke's life, via The New Yorker.

  • The Rupert Brooke Society — An organization devoted to Brooke's literary legacy.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Rupert Brooke

  • The Dead (IV)

  • The Soldier