We are the Dead. Short days ago 6 We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, 7
Loved and were loved, and now we lie, 8 In Flanders fields. 9
Take up our quarrel with the foe: 10 To you from failing hands we throw 11
The torch; be yours to hold it high. 12 If ye break faith with us who die 13
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow 14 In Flanders fields. 15
1. The Analysis of the Poem “In Flanders Fields”
From the title, John McCrae tries to give us a question, what was really happened in Flanders field. Flanders is a terrain near Ypres which is beneficial to
attack from the hillside. Flanders also becomes the witness of the most vicious cycle of war, when the Germany first used the deadly gas attack in the battle.
The first stanza of this poem consists of five lines. Although this poem consist of lines, but this poem cannot be analyzed each lines. To obtain a good
analysis, the writer analyzed this poem from each sentence . The first sentence:
In Flanders fields the poppies blow between the crosses row and row that mark our place
.
This sentence is the opening of the main point of this poem. John McCrae tries to portray the circumstances of the place. On the soil of Flanders, the poppies
are growing side by side with the crosses. The poppy is a red colored petals flower which is wildly blooms over the top soil. This flower is symbolizing blood, as it
has the same color. By using the color of the poppies, John McCrae tries to
describe the fierce of the battle. There were a lot of soldiers who died in the battle. Blood-spattered and covered the battle ground.
The word crosses in the sentence the crosses that mark our place; refer to the tombstone of the dead soldier during the battle. John McCrae used the word
‘our’ to referring the dead soldier and the word ‘place’ for the graveyard. The second sentence of the first stanza, the poet gives the clear image of
the situation of the battle.
And in the sky the Larks still bravely singing, fly scarce heard amid the guns
below .
Same with the previous sentence, this sentence also portray the circumstance of the Flanders. According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary 753, lark is a small brown bird with a pleasant song. John McCrae used Lark as symbol of the Canadian troops which are joined the battle, because
their outfit has the same color. The other similarity is they were both singing bravely although they lost in number and weapon compared with their enemy.
Nothing left but courage and the brave, but they still fight till the last man stand. The sentence “the larks fly scarce amid of the guns below” refers to the Canadian
Army which has to fight with insufficient weapon and protection beneath their trenches in the middle of guns shower and the blazing of bombs.
The second stanza consists of four lines. These four lines can be separated into three main sentences. This stanza tells us about the lament of a war.
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.
The first sentence is “We are the dead”. The word ‘we’ refers to the soldier. The second sentence is “short days ago we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset
glow, loved and were loved’. This sentence is describing the life of the soldier before they departed. They can watch the dawn, watch the sunset, love and to be
loved. But soon after the battle, all of these experiences were perished altogether with their life. And this is what we called sacrifice or payment of patriotism. The
third sentence “And now we lie in Flanders fields” is emphasized the second sentence, that now we were nothing but the dead. The word ‘lie’ means that we
already dead, and now we are lying beneath the cemetery. The third stanza of this poem consists of six lines. This stanza can be
separated into four sentences. In this stanza, John McCrae tries to encourage the soldier to keep their faith and their patriotism spirit as a successor in the battle
field. 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.
The first sentence is “Take up our quarrel with the foe to you”. This sentence states that because this war is not finished yet, so it is urgent to continue
the battle against the enemy. John McCrae used the polite term to describe something. He used the word quarrel instead of fight or battle, and the word foe
for enemy. The second sentence “From failing hands we throw the torch” is
describing the support to continue the unfinished task. According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 1427, the word ‘torch’ refers to a long piece of
wood that has material at one end that is set on fire and that people carry to give light. In this poem, the word torch refers to the spirit or will. The third sentence is
“be yours to hold it high”. This sentence emphasizes the previous sentence that the torch or the spirit had to be kept and seize in order to encourage the soldier.
The fourth sentence “If ye break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep, though poppies grow” can be interpreted as if the soldiers can not finished the task
given, then we, as the former soldiers who had died, would never rest in peace. According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 1564, the word ‘ye’ means
you, used when talking to more than one person. Break faith in this sentence is a promise to continue the fight against the enemy. The word ‘sleep’ in this sentence
is not literally to take a rest with eyes closed, but it has deeper meaning which is pleasant death. This sentence underlines the main duty of the battle which is gain
the victory. From the whole discussion of the whole sentence, this poem can be
categorized as a patriotism poem. In this poem we are encourage to keep our faith and fight against the enemy. This poem also teaches us to sacrifice, even though it
cost our life.
2. John McCrae’s View on War as seen in “In Flanders Fields”
