In Search of God

The Lost Horizon in Rupert Brooke’s Poetry

Abstract

The British poet Rupert Brooke (1887-1915) is one of the poets who should be reread and reassessed. Brooke"s reputation as a poet has been very much apt to doubt and controversies by admirers and detractors alike. Unlike many other poets, Brooke prospered greatly as a poet when he was only twenty. At his time, he was a “poetic…model” (Willdhardt, 49). Unlike the majority of poets, again, shortly after his death at the age of twenty-eight, his reputation declined drastically and his poetry was vehemently criticised, attacked and undervalued. This makes of Brooke a unique phenomenon worthy of rereading and reassessment. Indeed, what happened with Brooke as a poet is exactly the opposite of what usually happens with poets during their lifetimes and after their deaths. One can just think of such poets as John Keats (1795-1821)and Alfred Tennyson (1809-92) and Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) who were severely attacked during their lifetimes but were explored and championed after their deaths.