Rupert Brooke Sails for Gallipoli Aboard Grantully Castle
Poet involved
What happened
The troopship Grantully Castle carried Rupert Brooke and the Royal Naval Division towards the Dardanelles in early 1915. During the voyage Brooke became seriously ill and was transferred for treatment near the Greek island of Skyros. He died before reaching the Gallipoli battlefield.
Literary impact
Brooke's voyage helped establish the circumstances in which his war sonnets, especially The Soldier, became national texts of idealised sacrifice. The troopship represents the threshold between the poet's imagined noble death and the industrial warfare he never lived to experience.
Source: Wikipedia
