Flanders Fields: A World War I Poem

¶ … Flanders Fields: A World War I Poem Written by John McRae

The poem "In Flanders Fields" was written by John McRae, Canadian soldier, surgeon, and last, but not least, a poet, during World War I. McRae's poem gives a voice to those who died fighting in the war. Flanders Fields is reported to have been "the generic name of the World War I battlefields under the medieval County of Flanders." (Golden Map, nd, p.1) In Flanders Fields was penned by McRae during the War Poetry Movement, a time during World War I when many poets penned poetry relating the battlefield tragedies. The primary themes in McRae's poems were death, revenge, and honor. (Righter, 2008, p.1) The most famous of all his poems is "In Flanders Field" in which the idea of a tragic theme of war is related. (Righter, 2008, paraphrased) A great deal of symbolism is used by McRae in this poem and the example stated in the work of Righter (2008) is that of larks "singing and flying around" representing bullets and "how they're loud and fly all across the battle field. The red poppies symbolize blood and perseverance, much like the crosses themselves (Ruby, p.157)." (Righter, 2008, p.2) A young Canadian artillery officer, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer was killed on the 2nd day of May, 1915 when a German artillery shell exploded landing near him. This young man was serving in the same Canadian artillery unit and was a friend of McRae. It was for this young man's funeral that the poem "In Flanders Fields" was written. (The Great War 1914-1918, nd, p.1) McRae's poem is reported to use "specifically French form, dating back to the 13th Century, known as a rondeau. A rondeau traditionally has 13 lines of 8 syllables length; it has three stanzas with rhyme scheme AABBAAABC AABBAC; and it features a four syllable refrain (marked C. In the notation previous) that repeats the opening words of the poem." (Griffiths, 2010, p.1) It is reported that McRae was exposed to combat as well as the "trails of a soldier's life, but the battles in which he fought measured casualties only by the dozen." (Patterson, Fermor, and Hall, 1994, p.1307)

Annotated Bibliography

(1) Flanders Fields (nd) Goldenmap. Retrieved from: http://en.goldenmap.com/Flanders_Fields

This article gives information about the geographical location of World War I and the reason that battlefields were all called Flanders Fields.

(2) Griffiths, GM (2010) In Flanders Fields -- John McRae Commentary. Move Him Into The Sun. Retrieved from: http://movehimintothesun.wordpress.com/2010/12/11/in-flanders-fields-john-mccrae/

This article is a commentary on Flanders Fields and provides information about the symbolism in the poem.