Behind Flanders Fields
Would the world be the same if In Flanders Field had never been written? ... In April of 1915, McCrae was in the trenches near Ypres, Belgium, in the area traditionally called Flanders. ... 8 What he saw from where he wrote this poem were wild poppies already beginning to bloom between the crosses marking the many graves,9 and unable to help his friend, and many of the others who had died, he gave spoke for them through his poem In Flanders Field. ... In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. ... Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved, and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. ... If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.15 In Flanders Field was the second to last poem he wrote. ... His last poem The Anxious Dead, echoed the theme of In Flanders Field, but was never as popular as the earlier poem. ... He was buried with full military honours in Wimereux Cemetery that is just north of Boulogne, and not far from the fields of Flanders. ... In Ypres, Belgium, the remnants of his poem can still be seen today by the graves that are very near to where he wrote the poem, and also, the poppies that grow, in Flanders Field.