The Centenary Celebrations of the English poet Rupert Brooke in Skyros was held on the 23rd of April 2015 by The Municipality of Skyros in collaboration with the British Embassy.
To remember R.Brooke’s life, poetry and his death, this special event took place on the mythical island of Skyros, where the poet died (23 April 1915) during the First World War and was buried in an olive grove, near Tris Boukes Bay, on the south-west of the island. The most visible memorial to this is the statue of the “Ideal Poet” in Skyros town, is high above the sea, in “Brooke – Eternal Poetry Square”.
The following is what the program included:
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Memorial to the grave of the poet in Tris Boukes service by Revd Canon M.Bradshaw, Senior Anglican Chaplain, Athens. Poems reading. Wreath-laying by the British Ambassador Kittmer, the Regional Director of Central Greece Mr Bakoyannis and Mr Spanos, the Mayor of Skyros, Mr Hatjiyiannakis, representative of the Rupert Brooke Society and the Diplomatic Representative of Missions in Greece, from London, Mr Maybin. The ceremony will also attend official contingent of the Greek Navy and band to pay tribute to the poet’s memory
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Official opening of the audio-visual exhibition “Rupert Brooke on Skyros: An English Poet in a Corner of the Aegean” hosted at the theatre of the Primary School in Skyros town. The exhibition will remain open by the 1st of September 2015 with free admission. The exhibition is co-organised by the Municipality of Skyros and the British Embassy with the support of the Region of Central Greece.
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Welcome reception organised by the Municipality of Skyros.
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Visit to the monastery of St.George – patron saint of Skyros and England. Sightseeing visits to the ancient Castle and archaeological site of Palamari.
Rupert Brooke was an English poet whose neo-Romantic poems and premature death in World War One contributed to his fame and idealised image.
Rupert Brooke was born on 3 August 1887. His father was a housemaster at Rugby School. After leaving Cambridge University, where he became friends with many of those in the ‘Bloomsbury Group’, Brooke studied in Germany and travelled in Italy. In 1909 he moved to the village of Grantchester, near Cambridge, which he celebrated in his poem, ‘The Old Vicarage, Grantchester’ (1912). His first collection of poems was published in 1911. In 1913, Brooke became a fellow of King’s College, Cambridge, his old college.
In the same year, he left England to travel in North America, New Zealand and the Pacific islands. He returned home shortly before the outbreak of World War One. He was commissioned into the Royal Naval Division and took part in the disastrous Antwerp expedition in October 1914. In February 1915, he set sail for the Dardanelles. On board ship he developed septicaemia from a mosquito bite. He died on 23 April 1915 on a hospital ship off the Greek island of Skyros and was buried in an olive grove on the island.
“Here lies the servant of God, sub-lieutenant in the English Navy, who died for the deliverance of Constantinople from the Turks”
Rupert Brooke is buried in an olive grove on the Greek Island of Skyros, near Tris Boukes Bay. The grave lies in a remote location, about 50 yards to the left of the road which descends down to the bay.
Rupert Brooke caught the optimism of the opening months of the war with his wartime poems, published after his death, which expressed an idealism about war that contrasts strongly with poetry published later in the conflict.
Source: BBC History