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.

John McCrae’s “In Flan­ders Fields” is what I think about every Remem­brance Day, so it seems to be the per­fect time to reflect on this poem and what it stands for.

Grow­ing up on Van­cou­ver Island meant that this poem was a promi­nent part of Remem­brance Day. As “In Flan­ders Fields” has become some­what of a sym­bol of Cana­di­an remem­brance, the poem was read aloud every Remem­brance Day cer­e­mo­ny. It was some­thing that all of us stu­dents came to expect, and we used it as a tool to hon­our the fall­en sol­diers. 

Before we dis­cuss the mean­ing of this famous poem, we should delve into the man who wrote it, John McCrae.

John McCrae was born in Guelph, Ontario in 1872. He was enthu­si­as­tic about join­ing the mil­i­tary, and enlist­ed when he was just 17 years old, hav­ing been involved with the Cadet Corps since he was 14. While being inter­est­ed in the mil­i­tary, he was also an avid poet, and he attend­ed the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to on a schol­ar­ship. 

McCrae went on to become the brigade-sur­geon of the First Brigade of the Cana­di­an Field Artillery dur­ing World War I. It was here where he penned the now famous poem “In Flan­ders Fields,” after see­ing his friend killed. McCrae noticed the many graves sur­round­ing the area where his men were sta­tioned, and saw the famous red pop­pies grow­ing upon their makeshift graves. “In Flan­ders Fields” was the sec­ond-to-last poem he would ever write. 

“In Flan­ders Fields” was writ­ten to memo­ri­al­ize the mil­lions of deaths from World War I, but it has come to sig­ni­fy the sac­ri­fice of many oth­ers in lat­er wars. Our wear­ing pop­pies as a sym­bol of our remem­brance and respect for the fall­en orig­i­nat­ed in this poem. Remem­brance Day is all about hon­our­ing those who fought for our free­dom, and John McCrae was one of those peo­ple. 

For me, this poem is big­ger than just a mes­sage to remem­ber. “In Flan­ders Fields” rep­re­sents a free­dom that so many peo­ple were not for­tu­nate enough to get. Every year I remem­ber read­ing these words and think­ing to myself, “I can’t even imag­ine what see­ing this must have felt like.” John McCrae gives us a first-hand view of the dev­as­ta­tion of war, yet still man­ages to notice the small beau­ti­ful pop­pies that mark the graves of his fall­en fel­low sol­diers and friends. This imagery alone is enough to make us re-read the poem year after year, and the mean­ing it holds to so many peo­ple con­tin­ues to show us it’s impor­tance. 

All of this being said, Remem­brance Day is a time for us to reflect on the priv­i­lege we have and take a moment to con­sid­er what so many peo­ple gave up their lives for. So, if you haven’t done so already, I hope you take a moment to reflect and remem­ber all those who laid down their lives for us.

Bio­graph­i­cal infor­ma­tion cour­tesy of poets.org and poetryfoundation.org.

Errin Johnston-Watson

This post was pub­lished on the orig­i­nal UVic ESA web­site.