Padre's Hour

On 6th December 1915 an anonymous poem, In Flanders Fields, was published in Punch. Written by an unknown, Lt. Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian medical officer, during the second battle of Ypres, it became the best known poem of the War and its images became part of the collective memory. the humble poppy was transformed from a colourful weed into an international symbol of remembrance. It remains with us yet. McCrae never saw its effect; he died soon after the composition.

Why was its impact so great? In Flanders Fieldsacculminates the maximum number of established motifs and images, which it mixes with a mood of autumnal pastoralism. Each image triggers off an emotional response. We have the red flowers of the traditional pastoral elegy; the crosses which suggest Calvary and sacrifice; the sky as seen from the trench; the larks singing in the midst of the horror; the contrast between the song of the lark and the voice of the guns; the special significance of dawn and sunset; the concept of soldiers as lovers; and the antithesis drawn betwen beds and graves. The poem sails across the imagination laden with associations.

1915 was the first full year of the war. When it was at last being understood as brutal and murderous. In Flanders Fields stopped readers in their tracks. It also has a slow, deathly rythm which, combined with the imagery of poppies blowing between crosses, makes it unforgettable.

There is a surprising change in tone and beat in the third verse, which delivers a new and disconcerting message. Jolting too is the near supernatural cri de coeur when McCrae apparently sees his death (To you from falling hands) and warns the reader that the dead will demand you do not forsake them, perhaps even haunt you, and that you will be next in the battlefield. Few works of literature have had such an impact; a poem fromwar for peace.