Brooke's emergence as the national poet from 1915 to 1918 was not accidental. His personal approach towards writing poetry in a time of war, born of a period of self-mobilisation, crystallised in the months leading up to his death during which time he positioned himself – to the extent that he could control his own circumstances – to become ‘England's Poet-Soldier’. Throughout his short life, he also maintained and expanded an influential web of acquaintances. For these literary and political patrons and champions, Brooke's accessible poetry and timely if tragic death allowed them to place him before the reading public, almost ready-made, cast in the role of the perfectly self-surrendering fulfilment of his own poetic vision.1 They did so in the obituaries of April and May 1915, which in turn were syndicated, recast, and expanded upon for new audiences in a variety of publications and formats throughout the war. The opportunistic way in which Brooke was promoted does not, however, negate the genuine grief – felt to varying degrees depending on the proximity to the man as opposed to the figure – expressed at the death of an individual who was in many cases a friend or protégé as well as a saleable patriotic entity. As Henry James midway through the war observed: ‘His place is now very high & very safe – even though one walks round and round it with the aching soreness of having to take the monument for the man’.

The language and discourse that settled on and around the poetsoldier fixed him as a standard for the war readership, including other would-be writers and poet-soldiers, who read his poems and the myriad articles and advertisements, reacted to their language and sentiments, and in some cases were inspired to compose their own variations on a theme.