In Flanders Fields Analysis

                “In Flanders Fields” is a poem which was written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae during WWI after the death of a friend during the Second Battle for Ypres. The poem is written in a form of Renaissance-era poetic style known as a Rondeau, with this specific poem uses an AABBA format. “In Flanders Fields” was used as propaganda to inspire Canadians to enlist or purchase war bonds.

The poem itself speaks from varying perspectives, and seems to be from a dead soldier speaking to the reader, who supposedly supports the war. The poem’s general tone is somber, and somewhat threatening, with the dead speaker pre-emptively blaming the reader for not continuing to fight the “enemy”. The fact the speaker is dead creates some confusion regarding the perspective the poem is set in, as the speaker is speaking as though in an omniscient role, yet clearly claims he is dead.

 The theme of the poem seems to shift in the third stanza, which mainly states the importance of continuing the fight with a nameless “enemy’, presumably the Axis forces of WWI; in contrast to the earlier two stanzas’ focus being around the fact the speaker and comrades are dead, but still talking to you. The ongoing theme in the last stanza seems very jingoistic and it’s divergence from the rest of the poem makes it seem as though added on to promote the war.