In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe!
To you from [falling 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.
NOTES AND QUESTIONS
Biography. John D. McCrae, a physician of Montreal, was made a Lieutenant Colonel in the Canadian Army and went overseas early in the war. He died of pneumonia at the front in January, 1918. This beautiful poem, was written by him during the second battle of Ypres, April, 1915.
Discussion. 1. Tell in your own words the scene which the poet describes in the first five lines. 2. Of what is the poppy a symbol? 3. What does the poet bid us do? 4. What do you think was the motive which inspired Lieutenant Colonel McCrae to write this poem?