In Flanders Fields

Since it is officially a Canadian poem, Jean Pariseau wrote an official French version of the poem so everybody within Canada, French or English could enjoy the poem. The poem is called "Au champ d'honneur".

The Montreal Canadians have used the line "to you from failing hands we throw the torch, be yours to hold it high" as a motto since 1940.

In the movie "Dangerous Minds", the students are inspired to fight to keep their grades and graduate by their teacher, who sacrifices everything to help them.

Inspiration

Moina Michael, a YMCA secretary was deeply moved by this poem. After the war she wrote a response to this poem:

We shall keep the faith

Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,

Sleep sweet -- to rise anew!

We caught the torch you threw

And holding high, we keep the Faith

With All who died.

We cherish, too, the poppy red

That grows on fields where valor led;

It seems to signal to the skies

That blood of heroes never dies,

But lends a lustre to the red

Of the flower that blooms above the dead

In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy Red

We wear in honor of our dead.

Fear not that ye have died for naught;

We'll teach the lesson that ye wrought

In Flanders Fields.

The Royal Canadian Mint was inspired and has released coins with poppies on them as well as having an image on the ten dollar bill to support it.

Many musicians such as American composer Charles Ives provided musical accompaniment to John McCrae's poem.

In "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2", Neville stands up to Voldemort, proclaiming that they will make sure that Harry and the others did not die in vain.

Did You Notice The

Remembrance Day Raven?

Because He Noticed You.

In Flanders Fields

By John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Structure

Setting and Tone

Rondeau Form

13 lines, 8 syllables each

3 Stanzas

AABBA AABC AABBAC

"blow/row/sky/fly/below"

"ago/go/lie/fields"

"foe/throw/high/die/grow/fields"

Significance:

a field of graves of fallen soldiers

and poppies

The first two stanzas - a sad, dark mood

The last stanza - a desperate mood

POETIC DEVICES

ALLITERATION - repetition of consonant sounds

EXAMPLES:

Line 2: Row on row

Line 8: Loved and were loved, and now they lie

Line 12: Hold it high

ASSONANCE - repetition of vowel sounds followed by a consonant

Line 13: break, faith

Metaphor:

"The torch; be yours to hold it high"

"In Flanders Fields the poppies

blow/between the crosses, row on

row"

Sensory Imagery:

"we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset

glow/loved and were loved"

Significance:

The torch - a metaphor

for what the dead have left

behind for us.

The poppies - a metaphor for the blood they

shed in war for us to be able to

live on, are a symbol of

their sacrifice for future

generations.

Speaker

Sound to Sense

"That mark our place"

"We are the dead"

"We lived"

"Take up our quarrel"

"From failing hands we throw"

"Break faith with us"

"We shall not sleep"

Significance:

narration is 1st person

emotions about the theme of the poem,

death

the dead have a voice in the world,

which affects the world of the living

Alliteration:

"Flanders fields"

"crosses, row on row"

"and in the sky / The larks, still bravely

singing, fly / Scarce "

"saw sunset"

"Loved and were loved, and now we lie"

"with the foe: / To you from failing"

"hold it high"

symbolism

"In Flanders Fields"

"Between the crosses, row on row"

Significance:

repetition of the title,

representation of the many soldiers,

who have died and are now buried in Flanders Fields,

a symbol of the many dead.

Meaning

LITERAL / FIGURATIVE

In Flanders Fields

Read by Leonard COHEN