Something Lockerd said was "Far from condemning war, in which he never lived to fight, his poems actively assert not only its necessity but also its desirability" (Lockerd 4). Even though he wasn't part of the war in the sense of fighting it, he was completely in support of it. And this support can most likely be attributed to Brooke's pure nationalism. Lines 7-8 of the poem say “A body of England, breathing English air / Washed by rivers, blessed by home suns” (Brooke 2019). This phrase can be interpreted to mean that as long as you are with the English at war, nothing will be truly corrupt or bad. This presents not only a positive view of the war, but also a positive view of the English people. At the beginning of World War I, patriotism was common and even expected. The people were all for war, which was reflected in a lot of poetry around the time The Soldier was written. “In 1914 the British Army… was made up of professionals and then volunteers” (Welch). This was in contrast to the armies of continental Europe whose members had little choice about going to war. And because of the way armies were made up, Brooke felt it was right to honor the soldiers who were part of the army. In lines 9-10, “And, think, this heart, all the evil has been taken away / A beat in the eternal mind, no less” (Brooke 2019). This can be interpreted to mean that the soldiers died no matter who they were or what they did,