In Flanders Fields

For other uses, see In Flanders Fields (disambiguation).

Inscription of the complete poem in a bronze "book" at the John McCrae memorial at his birthplace in Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

"In Flanders Fields" is a war poem in the form of a French rondeau, written during the First World War by Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae. He was inspired to write it on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend and fellow soldier Alexis Helmer, who died during the Second Battle of Ypres. It was first published on December 8 of that year in the London-based magazine Punch.

It is one of the most popular and most quoted poems from the war, and its references to the red poppies that grew over the graves of fallen soldiers resulted in the remembrance poppy becoming one of the worlds most visible memorial symbols for soldiers who have died in conflict. The poem and poppy are prominent Remembrance Day symbols throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, particularly in Canada, where "In Flanders Fields" is one of the nation's most prominent literary works.

Background

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae was a soldier, physician and poet.

John McCrae was a poet and physician from Guelph, Ontario. He developed an interest in poetry at a young age and wrote throughout his life. His earliest works were published in the mid 1890s in Canadian magazines and newspapers. McCrae's poetry often focused on death and the peace that followed.

At the age of 41, McCrae enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the first weeks of the first World War. He had the option of joining the medical corps due to his training, but volunteered instead to join a fighting unit as a gunner and medical officer. It was his second tour of duty in the Canadian military. He previously fought with volunteer force in the Second Boer War. McCrae considered himself a soldier first; his father was a military leader in his hometown of Guelph, Ontario, and McCrae grew up believing in the duty of fighting for his country and empire.

McCrae fought in the second battle of Ypres in the Flanders region of Belgium. The German army unleashed a chlorine gas attack on April 22, 1915, but were unable to break through the Canadian line, which held for over two weeks. McCrae described the battle as a "nightmare": "For seventeen days and seventeen nights none of us have had our clothes off, nor our boots even, except occasionally. In all that time while I was awake, gunfire and rifle fire never ceased for sixty seconds ..... And behind it all was the constant background of the sights of the dead, the wounded, the maimed, and a terrible anxiety lest the line should give way." Alexis Helmer, a close friend, was killed on May 2. McCrae performed the burial service himself, noting how poppies quickly grew around the graves of those who died at Ypres. The next day, he composed a poem describing the burial while sitting in the back of an ambulance.

Poem

An autographed copy of the poem from In Flanders Fields and Other Poems (1919)

The first chapter of In Flanders Fields and Other Poems, a 1919 collection of McCrae's works, gives the text of the poem as follows:

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.

Publication

Illustrated page by Ernest Clegg. Note that the first line ends with "grow".

While delivering the brigade's mail, Cyril Allinson watched McCrae as he worked on the poem, noting that McCrae's eyes periodically returned to Helmer's grave as he wrote. When handed the notepad, Allinson read the poem and was so moved he immediately committed it to memory. He described it as being "almost an exact description of the scene in front of us both". According to tradition, McCrae was unsatisfied with his work. It is said he crumpled the paper and threw it away. It was retrieved by a fellow soldier, either Edward Morrison or J. M. Elder, or Allinson himself. They convinced McCrae to submit the poem for publication.

Another version, by a fellow soldier, claimed that the Helmer's funeral was actually held on the morning of May 2 after which McCrae wrote the poem in 20 minutes. A third claim, by Morrison, was that McCrae worked on the poem as time allowed between the times wounded arrived for medical attention. McCrae worked on the poem for months before considering it ready for publication. He submitted it to The Spectator in London, but was rejected. It was then sent to Punch, where it was published on December 8, 1915.

Since publication, the word that ends the first line of the poem has been disputed. According to Allinson, the poem began with "In Flanders Fields the poppies grow" when first written. However, since McCrae ended a later line in the poem with "grow", Punch received permission to change the wording of the opening line. McCrae himself used both words when making handwritten copies for friends and family. Questions over how the first line should end have endured since publication. Most recently, the Royal Canadian Mint was inundated with queries and complaints when it released a new design for the ten-dollar bill that featured the first stanza of "In Flanders Fields", ending the first line with "blow".

Popularity

"In Flanders Fields" gained immediate popularity around the world. Originally published anonymously, McCrae received numerous letters and telegrams praising his work when he was revealed as the author. The poem was republished throughout the world and rapidly became synonymous with the sacrifice of the soldiers who died in the First World War. It was translated into numerous languages, so many that McCrae himself quipped "It needs only Chinese now, surely". Its appeal was nearly universal. Soldiers took encouragement from it as a statement of their duty to those who died. People on the home front viewed it as defining the cause for which their brothers and children were fighting.

Historian Paul Fussell called it "the most popular poem" of that era, but criticized the poem in his work The Great War and Modern Memory (1975). He noted the distinction between the sacrificial tone of the first nine lines and the "recruiting-poster rhetoric" of the third stanza. Describing it as "vicious" and "stupid", Fussell called the final lines a "propaganda argument against a negotiated peace". "In Flanders Fields" was often used for propaganda, particularly in Canada during the 1917 federal election. In was a popular motivational tool in Great Britain, where it was used to motivate soldiers fighting against Germany, and in the United States where it was reprinted across the country. It was one of the most popular and most quoted poems of the war. As with many of the most popular works of the first world war, it was written early in the conflict, before the romanticism of war turned to bitterness and disillusion for soldiers and civilians alike.

Legacy

After three years on the front lines, McCrae was moved to the medical corps and stationed in Boulogne, France. He was promoted to the acting rank of Colonel on January 13, 1918, and named Consulting Physician to the British Armies in France. The years of war had worn McCrae down, however. He contracted pneumonia that same day, and later came down with cerebral meningitis. On January 28, he died at the military hospital in Wimereux. A book of his works, featuring "In Flanders Fields" was published the following year.

"In Flanders Fields" has attained iconic status in Canada, where it is a staple of Remembrance Day ceremonies and may be the most well known literary piece amongst English Canadians. It has an official French adaptation, entitled "Au champ d'honneur", written by Jean Pariseau and used by the Canadian government in French and bilingual ceremonies. In addition to its appearance on the ten-dollar bill, the Royal Canadian Mint has released poppy-themed coins on several occasions, including a version in 2004 with a red poppy in the centre, considered the first multi-coloured circulation coin in the world. Among its uses in popular culture, the lines "to you from failing hands we throw the torch, be yours to hold it high" have served as a motto for the Montreal Canadiens hockey club since 1940.

The poem is part of Remembrance Day ceremonies in the United Kingdom, where it holds as one of the nation's best-loved, and is occasionally featured in Memorial Day ceremonies in the United States.^{[citation needed]} In Belgium, the In Flanders Fields Museum in Ypres, named after the poem and is devoted to the First World War, is situated in one of Flanders' largest tourist areas.

Remembrance poppies

Main article: Remembrance poppy

Poppies laid atop the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during a Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa

The red poppies that McCrae referred to had been associated with war since the Napoleonic Wars when a writer of that time first made note of how the poppies grew over the graves of soldiers. The damage done to the landscape in Flanders during the battle greatly increased the lime content in the soil, leaving the poppy as one of the few plants able to grow in the region.

Inspired by "In Flanders Fields", American professor Moina Michael resolved at the war's conclusion in 1918 to wear a red poppy year-round to honour the soldiers who died in the war. Additionally, she wrote a poem in response, "We Shall Keep the Faith" She distributed silk poppies to her peers and campaigned to have it adopted as an official symbol of remembrance by the American Legion. Madame E. Guérin attended the 1920 convention where the Legion supported Michael's proposal and was herself inspired to sell poppies in her native France to raise money for the war's orphans. In 1921, Guérin sent poppy sellers to London ahead of Armistice Day, attracting the attention of Field Marshall Douglas Haig. A co-founder of The Royal British Legion, Haig supported and encouraged the sale. The practice quickly spread throughout the British Empire. The wearing of poppies in the days leading up to Remembrance Day and remains popular in many areas of the Commonwealth of Nations, particularly Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

See also

• 1915 in poetry
• Military history of Canada
• Military history of Canada during World War I

References

Footnotes

General

• Bassett, John (1984), The Canadians: John McCrae, Markham, Ontario: Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited, ISBN 0-88902-651-3 
• Fussell, Paul (2009) [1975], The Great War and Modern Memory (Illustrated Edition), New York: Stirling Publishing, ISBN 0-19-513331-5 
• Gillmor, Don (2001), Canada: A People's History, two, Toronto, Ontario: McClelland & Stewart, ISBN 0771033400, ISBN 0-7710-3341-9 
• McCrae, John (1919), In Flanders Fields and Other Poems, Arcturus Publishing (reprint 2008), ISBN 1841939943, http://books.google.ca/books?id=TecjwVOo5GsC&lpg=PP1&dq=In%20Flanders%20Fields&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=true, retrieved 2012-02-07 
• Prescott, John F. (1985), In Flanders Fields: The Story of John McCrae, Erin, Ontario: Boston Mills Press, ISBN 0-919783-07-4 

External links

• Free audiobook from LibriVox
• This site contains an account of the writing of the poem and a facsimile of the author's manuscript.
• In Flanders Fields, the website of the museum of this name in Ypres, dedicated to this poem
• Royal Canadian Legion web page about John McCrae, In Flanders Fields, and the custom of wearing poppies
• In Flanders Fields, choral piece by composer Bradley Nelson, commissioned by Fresno State Chamber Singers and Chico State Chamber Singers of California State University
• Lost Poets of the Great War, a hypertext document on the poetry of World War I by Harry Rusche, of the English Department, Emory University, Atlanta Georgia. It contains a bibliography of related materials.