Surely We Have Perished (The Poem)
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That marks 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
By John McCrae
Flanders fields is a cemetery where soldiers lie. Although the graves look insignificant, there is an important story behind each one. Men and women gave up their lives for the safety of our country. In the time of the Vietnam war, there were people against the war called flower children. Soldiers were treated badly and it was hard, people didn't realized how the soldiers made a big impact on the safety of them and their country. In the poem the perspective is from a dead solider ("We are the dead. Short days ago"). The poem happened after a major war where people lost their lives. The attitude of it starts out happy by talking about a beautiful field with poppies but it slowly darkness to the death of important soldiers. In this poem several imagery techniques were used to make the poem sound better, it talks about imagery specifically in the first stanza of the poem. The ultimate understanding is that again, even so something looks so beautiful, beautiful things can sometimes have a dark side that no one sees.
The author of the poem John McCrae was not only a poet and a physician but he was also a solider that fought in World War I. His close friend Alexis Helmer was killed in battle on May 2nd. McCrae attended the service and noticed how poppies grew around the graves next to his friend Alexis's grave. The next day he wrote the poem while sitting in the back of a medical war station. The location is now known as the John McCrae Memorial Site.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That marks 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
By John McCrae
Flanders fields is a cemetery where soldiers lie. Although the graves look insignificant, there is an important story behind each one. Men and women gave up their lives for the safety of our country. In the time of the Vietnam war, there were people against the war called flower children. Soldiers were treated badly and it was hard, people didn't realized how the soldiers made a big impact on the safety of them and their country. In the poem the perspective is from a dead solider ("We are the dead. Short days ago"). The poem happened after a major war where people lost their lives. The attitude of it starts out happy by talking about a beautiful field with poppies but it slowly darkness to the death of important soldiers. In this poem several imagery techniques were used to make the poem sound better, it talks about imagery specifically in the first stanza of the poem. The ultimate understanding is that again, even so something looks so beautiful, beautiful things can sometimes have a dark side that no one sees.
The author of the poem John McCrae was not only a poet and a physician but he was also a solider that fought in World War I. His close friend Alexis Helmer was killed in battle on May 2nd. McCrae attended the service and noticed how poppies grew around the graves next to his friend Alexis's grave. The next day he wrote the poem while sitting in the back of a medical war station. The location is now known as the John McCrae Memorial Site.