I died over 100 times while playing level 1-2 for 4 hours nonstop last night.
 
I'm playing as a soldier.  I only died a few times from the fire breathing dragon.  But I died a freaking TON of times at the end of the level where there are 4 crossbow guys, 2 blue eye knights.  On the few occasions I made it past this part the Tower Guard keeps kicking my ass before I can do ANY damage at all to him.
 
Am I suppose to do level 1-2 immediately after beating level 1-1 like I'm doing right now......or am I suppose to do a different level before trying 1-2? 

You are supposed to try a different level-I would recommend Stone Fang Tunnel. Tower Knight is easy when you get more players.

I went 1-1, 1-2, and then went through world 2 and then back to finish world 1.
 
edit:  Tower Knight:  Run straight up the stairs and kill the archers.  After that go down to the Tower Knight and sprint straight at him and between his legs.  He will always miss you if you do this, then hit his heels a couple times and back off.  Repeat this process until he falls and go Ape Shit on his head.  Then you do it all over again, he will die quickly.
 
I actually did a video on this.  Its not that great of quality but you can see what I usually do:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK9sAw_E7Co
 
 Oh and I have a video for 1-2 up to the boss as well, the part next to the first blue knight is best with some sort of ranged weapon or magic:  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeJsqjlKjA8
 
Hope some of that might help.  Good luck anyway.

" You are supposed to try a different level-I would recommend Stone Fang Tunnel. Tower Knight is easy when you get more players. "

" Its the usual route to take yeah. But if your having trouble, 1-2 is a pretty easy run through so should try that instead. Or just farm yahself some easy souls from 1-1. "

" @THE_END: Yeh bro watch that video I posted to see what I mean. "

Yeah man, life's not fair.

A tip, even though you`re a soldier, is to level up Magic, Faith and Will enough to learn one spell - Soul Arrow, and one miracle - Evacuate. This will make the beginning of the game (and farming) a lot easier.

Soul Arrow works great against both Blue and red eyed knights as well as most of the first bosses, including the Tower Guard.

And as Rio said, take of your armor. He`ll kill you in one hit no matter what, so you might as well move as quickly as possible.

 
@Rio:  Thanks for all of the help guys.  I finally beat it........took me over 200 attempts in total LMFAO.  Anyways, I ran between his legs like Rio recommended then I hit both of his ankles until blue light was shining out of the wounds then went to the top of the wall where the archers are and shot 100 arrows from my bow at his head.  He fell down and died.
 
Thanks again for all of the help.  And a special thanks to Rio for posting the videos!

Yeah, you'll find aggro plays a major role in most of the game. Enemies are tough, and generally speaking, you'll want to take on each one one at a time. Lure one out, take 'em out, repeat the process.