Transformation of Mortality to Immortality: Ontological Dimensions of Patriotic Sacrifice in Brooke's War Poems

This article explores Rupert Brooke’s (1887-1915) views of the transformation of mortality into immortality through an ontological lens in his war poetry. Death is not the final cessation of life rather Brooke reimagines it as a process of transformation through which the patriotic hearts attain a lasting form of existence. The study argues that death in his poetry functions not as an end but as a passage into immortality sustained by memory, national identity and collective remembrance. Through close readings of his selected poems such as “Peace”, “Safety”, and “The Recruit”, the paper examines how the fallen soldier remains present within the nation’s consciousness, the landscape, and the stories of sacrifice preserved for future generations. Thus, Brooke’s poetry constructs a sense of patriotic sacrifice as a means of transcending physical mortality and grants the troops an enduring ontological presence. The findings reveal that death is represented as a transformative experience that converts individual life into collective permanence and, hence, elevates patriotic sacrifice from a temporal act to an immortal state of existence.