Skyros Rupert Brooke Grave

Table of contents:
General infoMapWrite a review!

Location: Avlatsi

The Grave of the English poet Rupert Brooke in Skyros, Sporades: The deserted southeast of Skyros is a mountainous region only visited scarcely by some locals and hikers. But here, near the bay of Tris Boukes, alone and solemn, lies the grave of the famous English war poet Rupert Brooke (1887-1925) who inspired his country with beautiful sonnets.

Rupert, born in England in 1887, grew up to be a well educated young man and studied at King's College, Cambridge. Being an idealist, he turned towards socialist politics and campaigned for the reform of the English Poor Law as a youth. But some painful relationships and an inspiring world tour as a reporter set the scene for Rupert to flourish in his destiny, as a poet.

After returning to England in 1914, when the World War I was declared, Rupert joined the Royal Navy and was commissioned as a Sub Lieutenant. This was when he wrote the famous English war sonnet The Soldier. Later in April 1915, Brooke's ship reached the Aegean, positioned off Tris Bouke's bay waiting for clearance to sail to Gallipoli.

On April 20th, Rupert and some friends visited and rested at the olive groves above the Tris Boukes bay. Here Rupert commented on the beauty and tranquility of the place. That day in the evening, Rupert developed sepsis (blood poisoning) from an infected mosquito bite. In the afternoon of Friday, April 23rd, Rupert passed away. Later by nightfall, his friends carried Rupert up to the olive grove where they had rested and buried him there. The fellow officers erected a wooden cross on the site.

After the war, Rupert's mother ordered the building of a melancholic tomb over the grave. The tomb with the inscription of the sonnet The Soldier can be seen today above the bay, following the rough road southwards from Kalamitsa to Tris Boukes. To honor the poet, the locals named the main square in Chora Brooke's Square and raised the statue of a man overlooking the Aegean Sea. This monument is called the Eternal Poet.

The photo is from wikipedia.org

Map

Reviews

    No reviews yet.
    Be the first to write one!

DISCOVER MORE SIGHTSEEINGS IN SKYROS