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). Although he was not part of the war in the sense of fighting in it, he was fully supportive 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 the suns of its home” (Brooke 2019). This phrase can be interpreted to mean that as long as one stands with the English in the war, nothing will truly be corrupt or bad. This not only presents a positive view of the war, but also a positive view of the English people. At the start of World War I, patriotism was common and even expected. People were all for war, which was reflected in many poems at the time The Soldier was written. “By 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 in going to war. And because of the way armies were put together, Brooke also felt it was right to honor the soldiers who were part of the army. In lines 9 and 10, “And think, this heart, all evil cast away/An impulse in the eternal mind, no less” (Brooke 2019). This can be interpreted to mean that dead soldiers, no matter who they were or what they did,