1.3 Unfamiliar Texts
In Flanders Fields
John McCrae
A phrase incorporating both an active and passive verb
A conditional clause (“If” clause)
Imperative (command)
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
Alliteration
Enjambment (run-on line)
Caesura (complete pause in the middle of a line)
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Reference to light
Reference to sound
Reference to touch
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
First person pronoun
Second person pronoun
We are the Dead. Short days ago
4 syllable refrain – repetition of opening words for
structure
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.
R Jeffery-Jones
1.3 Unfamiliar Texts
In Flanders Fields
1.
John McCrae
2.
The repetition of the “d” sound at the end of these
successive words imitates the sounds of the firing guns.
These phrases accentuate the extent of the men’s lives
by showing the full course of a day.
3.
This repetition emphasises the great number of soldiers
killed in the war.
4.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
The imperative clauses on either side of the central
clause demand bravery from us who survive.
5.
Between the crosses, row on row,
This verb refers not only to that state traditionally
associated with buried soldiers (consider Rest in Peace),
but also to opium induced rest (opium comes from
That mark our place; and in the sky
poppies).
6.
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
The two main subjects of this stanza are animate,
responding to nature. The two secondary nouns refer to
objects of death.
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
7.
The subject of this stanza is the soldiers who have died
and whose collective voice is used in the poem.
8.
The first word in the first and second lines of this stanza
is the first person plural pronoun.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
9.
The juxtaposition of these two monosyllabic words in
the centre of the line heightens the sense that the
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
soldiers’ lives ended too soon. They fall at the caesura
in the poem, emphasising the narrators’ voice.
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
10. This metaphor compares the duty and obligation we
have to a carried light. It suggests that we must let our
In Flanders fields.
values, particularly freedom, be evident in the darkness
of oppression.
11. This stanza shifts the focus to the audience, as indicated
by the first word (an imperative or command) and by
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
the two words at the beginning of the second line.
12. This line has fewer syllables than other lines (except the
To you from failing hands we throw
last line) causing the audience to stop briefly in reading
and to think about what is expressed.
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
13. This line, like that at the end of the second stanza, does
not rhyme with the preceding lines, breaking the
If ye break faith with us who die
pattern and causing the audience to reflect on the
content of the poem.
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
14. Clear enunciation of these two words is awkward,
reinforcing the seriousness of letting down the soldiers
In Flanders fields.
who have sacrificed their lives for us. It also emphasises
the assonance in these two words.
R Jeffery-Jones