Dead” offer a covenant between the dead and the living: future generations should not “break faith with us who die” and should value the peace that was won at such
an enormous cost Granfield and Wilson 3, in their book “In Flanders Fields” The Story of
the Poem by John McCrae say that: “In Flanders Fields” is one of the most popular poems ever written on
the subject of war. Its underlying message of respect for the fallen and the
longing for peace has touched the hearts of million of people around the
world. From the perspective of the soldiers, “In Flanders Fields”, “The Warrior”
and “The Anxious Dead” recognized their sacrifice and their suffering in the trenches. From the public’s point of view, the poem was understood in a poetic
language that made the experience of the war accessible to the general reader, it speaks little of the horrors and attaches symbolism to experiences that would be
too painful to convey if expressed in realistic terms. The poems: “In Flanders Fields”, “The Warrior” and “The Anxious Dead”
are great poem to encourage people. Those poems can trigger the patriotism spirit and teach us to sacrifice without breaking our faith. From this poem, we can learn
to be patient and work hard to achieve a new hope. The writer would like to analyze these poems to dig out what is John McCrae view on war from his point
of view as a soldier and a victim of war.
E. Theoretical Framework
This part presents the theoretical frameworks of the study. It is intended to clarify how the theories related to the study are applied. This study applies some
theoretical review on the intrinsic elements of poems in order to help us understand the use and the function of figurative language in John McCrae’s
poems. This study also applies Biographical approach to analyze John McCrae’s
background of life. By using this approach, this study tries to reveal how John McCrae’s life experiences are reflected in his poems: “In Flanders Fields”, “The
Warrior” and “The Anxious Dead”. To obtain more specific background deal with John McCrae’s life at that
time, we need Sociocultural-Historical approach. It also helps us to understand the exact situation during John McCrae’s life and also the war itself.
21
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the methodology in analyzing the poem. There are three subtitles in this chapter, which are discussed. The first is the subject matter,
second is the approaches, and third is the procedures of the discussion of John McCrae.
A. Subject Matter
This study focuses on poetry. The primary data of this study are the three poems written by John McCrae which are, “In Flanders Fields”, “The Warrior”
and “The Anxious Dead”. His entire poem was written during the First World War and mostly talked
about war. Those poems are categorized as patriotic poems. I am interested in his opinion concerning war, because John McCrae sees war as a victim of a war and
also a soldier. John McCrae relates his idea on war to the reality of the human life. Finally, I want to know what John McCrae is trying to say throughout his poems.
The first poem of my study is entitled “In Flanders Fields”. This poem is compiled in book of “In Flanders Fields”. It has three stanzas, and each stanza has
the different lines. The first lines consist of five lines. The second stanza has four lines. And the third stanza has six lines. This poem deals with his sorrow because
of the dead of his friend. It also portrayed the general effect of the war which one of them is the dead of a human life. In this poem, he also tries to encourage the
