12 Comments

• 1. Gregory Swift  |  May 26th, 2008 at 8:10 am

  It is curious that of all the poets you picked this particular man. You must identify with him.

  Rupert Chawner Brooke (0/03/1887–04/23/1915) was an English poet known for his idealistic war sonnets; however, he never experienced combat at first hand.

• 2. neocon  |  May 26th, 2008 at 10:30 am

  So I guess unless you’re actually in battle, any poems written will be met with scorn from liberals.

  This then dovetails into not being allowed to criticize a candidates wife, criticize Islam, or make assumptions on associations.

  Any other free speech you’d like to restrict?

  Of course if you’re not a Christian, you are given free reign to excoriate that faith. Have at it.

• 3. bagni  |  May 26th, 2008 at 12:06 pm

  dear markoetic
  unlike neo and swifty
  we won’t argue today
  instead
  the blackhole buglists bow our heads
  to all on earth or anywhere else in the universe
  whose deep conviction
  allowed them give their lives for their country

• 4. Mark Noonan  |  May 26th, 2008 at 12:31 pm

  Gregory,

  As far as I know, Brooke was in the Royal Naval Division from the get-go, and must have come under fire at Antwerp in October of 1914.

  Was he an Audie Murphy? No - but he was heroic, and he was a magnifcent poet.

• 5. Mark Noonan  |  May 26th, 2008 at 12:33 pm

  neocon,

  And, in the end, Brooke paid with his life for his ideals…willing to die, he did die before he got ashore at Gallipoli, but unless someone wants to say that he’d have suddenly turned coward once ashore, one has to admit that he was a very brave man who gave his life for his country.

• 6. Mark Noonan  |  May 26th, 2008 at 12:34 pm

  Bagni,

  Agreed - its really not a day for battle, but for remembrance.

• 7. Pain  |  May 26th, 2008 at 12:41 pm

  6. Mark Noonan | May 26th, 2008 at 12:34 pm

  Agreed. [Salute. Too.]

• 8. James Lovecroft  |  May 26th, 2008 at 4:50 pm

  First I want to congratulate this site for respecting Rupert’s literary contributions.
  I had always been under the impression this site did not tolerate homosexuals, so I figured a bisexual like Rupert would not get much respect.

  Rupert suffered a nervous breakdown in 1913 because of the anti-homosexual atmosphere that dominated Britain at that time. Perhaps if he had known more enlightened gentlemen like yourselves, he could have avoided that terrible period of his life.

  Rupert developed sepsis from an infected mosquito bite. He died at 4.46 pm on 23 April 1915 off the island of Lemnos in the Aegean.

• 9. FmrMarine  |  May 26th, 2008 at 7:04 pm

  jl

  >>>>Rupert suffered a nervous breakdown in 1913 because of the anti-homosexual atmosphere that dominated Britain at that time.<<<

  NONSENSE!
  His poetry is very nice though.

• 10. discolapin  |  May 26th, 2008 at 8:38 pm

  I’m with you JL. It’s nice to see the poetry of a bi-sexual man recieved so openly in these quarters. Kudos to you!

• 11. Ethan Reins  |  May 26th, 2008 at 8:40 pm

  I must argue with Mr. Lovecroft.

  Brooke’s nervous breakdown happened in 1912, not 1913 and was not related to his lifestyle. He was just very sensitive and was going through a rough patch.

  Rupert Brooke was born on August 3, 1887, and died at the age of twenty-seven. Because his death followed shortly after the publication of five sonnets extolling the virtues of patriotic sacrifice, Brooke’s tragic early death (and, no doubt, his good looks) became inextricably linked in the public mind with his sonnets glorifying war, and a national hero was born.

  Academic and literary executors have long tried to play down Rupert Brooke’s attraction to men - often underplaying its importance and dismissing that side of his sexuality as schoolboy crushes, however there is considerable evidence in Brooke’s writing of his lasting attraction to men - beginning with two schoolboy crushes with Charles Lascelles and Michael Sadleir. Brooke’s love for these two boys was deeply felt (particularly in the case of Lascelles), but it was not until the age of twenty-two that he engaged in sex with another man, Denham Russell Smith, the younger brother of a friend.

  In July 1912, a few days following Smith’s death from an infection, Brooke described his seduction of Smith in surprising detail in a letter to James Strachey.

  Throughout his life, Brooke had close friends who were homosexual, and usually in love with him. As a schoolboy at Rugby, he was befriended by the aesthetic poet John Lucas-Lucas. At Cambridge, his best friend was James Strachey, who worshiped him. Even after suffering a nervous breakdown and denouncing Bloomsbury in 1912, Brooke only replaced one set of homosexual friends with another. His best friend at the end of his life was Edward Marsh, who was as much in love with him as Strachey had been.

  Brooke makes abundant references to same-sex affection in his letters to James Strachey, which were kept out of print by Brooke’s executors until 1998 for that very reason. Brooke was apparently bisexual, however, rather than homosexual, for his torturous relationships with women have been well documented. Unable to label himself bisexual, Brooke always felt emotionally and sexually displaced.

  The poetry for which Brooke is most famous tends to involve impersonal matters, but his earliest poems, which seem more autobiographical in nature, were almost certainly written for the primary love of his youth (and, some critics have claimed, the real love of his life), Charles Lascelles.

• 12. Brett Michaels  |  May 27th, 2008 at 11:29 am

  I never thought I would witness the day yhat Mark Noonan would describe a bisexual as heroic and magnificent poet.
  I always suspected you were more open minded then you care to admit on this blog.
  Kudos to you. :)