What does In Flanders Fields poem mean?

Answer 1

Flanders Fields is a poem about all the soldiers who sacrificed themselves in the war. They sacrificed themselves and they don't want it to be in vain and they want you to keep on fighting, evident in the line "Take up our quarrel with the foe". This shows that they want you to carry on fighting and defeat the foe. More evidence of this is in the line "To you from failing hands we throw the torch; be yours to hold it high" and a torch usually is a symbol of hope and this shows that they don't want you to give up hope and to keep on fighting no matter what the cost may be. They also show that it's about the soldiers who have died in the war by saying "In Flanders fields the poppies blow, between the crosses, row on row, that mark our place". The crosses symbolize death and the fact that there are rows of them shows that lots of people have died; it is a graveyard for fallen soldiers. Also, if you look at a field of poppies from a bird's eye view, they look like fields of blood which again shows that there's a lot of death and a lot of blood has been spilled. The "line that mark our place" shows that the viewpoint that the poet is writing from is the view of the people who have died and this is backed up by the line "We are the Dead". This also shows that the poet is writing from the viewpoint of the people who died in the war. Proof that it's about the people who died in the war is that the poem it says "Scarce heard amid the guns below" which show that it's about war and Flanders is a place in Belgium and in the First World War Britain had to protect neutral Belgium from the Austria-Hungarians. This proves that it's about the First World War. The way this poem is written is very emotive and very powerful. This moves you and makes you think about how big a sacrifice the soldiers who fought in the First World War actually made and how many lost their lives to protect their country.