The Soldier

“The Soldier” rhymes ababcdcd efgefg. The meter is iambic pentameter, meaning there are five iambs (an iamb is a two-syllable foot where an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable) per line. There are only four feet where the meter varies. First, the second foot on Line 4 contains two stressed (or accented) syllables in a row: rích • éarth. That’s a spondee, not an iamb. Second, Line 5 contains the foot “shaped, made.” That’s also a spondee. Third, Line 8 begins, “Washed by,” which is a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable: Wáshed • by. That’s a trochee, not an iamb. Fourth, the first two syllables of Line 11 are “Gives some,” which is another spondee. Even with these irregularities, the meter is remarkably consistent. “The Soldier” is 70 feet in total and only four of them vary.

The regularity of the meter is suggestive of the poem’s subject. Soldiers are commanded to dress, march, and maneuver in an orderly fashion, thus the meter of “The Soldier” is strict and uniform.

The consistency of the meter is also soothing. After his death, the soldier-speaker writes that he will become “[a] pulse in the eternal mind” (Line 10).