Rupert Brooke

Rupert Brooke
Photograph of Brooke by Sherrill Schell
Born	Rupert Chawner Brooke 3 August 1887 Rugby, Warwickshire, England
Died	23 April 1915(1915-04-23) (aged 27) Aegean Sea, off the island of Skyros
Cause of death	Sepsis
Resting place	Skyros, Greece
Nationality	British
Education	Rugby School, King's College, University of Cambridge (fellow)
Occupation	Poet
Employer	Sidgwick and Jackson (Publisher)

Rupert Chawner Brooke (middle name sometimes given as "Chaucer"; 3 August 1887 – 23 April 1915) was an English poet known for his idealistic war sonnets written during the First World War, especially "The Soldier". He was also known for his boyish good looks, which were said to have prompted the Irish poet W. B. Yeats to describe him as "the handsomest young man in England".

Brooke was born at 5 Hillmorton Road, Rugby, Warwickshire, the second of the three sons of William Parker Brooke, a Rugby schoolmaster, and Ruth Mary Brooke, née Cotterill. He was educated at two independent schools in Rugby: Hillbrow School and Rugby School. In 1905, he became friends with St. John Lucas, who thereafter became something of a mentor to him.

While travelling in Europe he prepared a thesis, entitled "John Webster and the Elizabethan Drama", which won him a scholarship to King's College, Cambridge, where he became a member of the Cambridge Apostles, was elected as President of the Cambridge University Fabian Society, helped found the Marlowe Society drama club and acted in plays including the Cambridge Greek Play.

Brooke made friends among the Bloomsbury group of writers, some of whom admired his talent while others were more impressed by his good looks. Virginia Woolf boasted to Vita Sackville-West of once going skinny-dipping with Brooke in a moonlit pool when they were in Cambridge together.