In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies growBetween the crosses, row on rowThat mark our place: and in the skyThe larks still bravely singing, flyScarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days agoWe lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,Loved, and were loved, and now we lieIn Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:To you from failing hands we throwThe Torch: be yours to hold it high!If ye break faith with us who dieWe shall not sleep, though poppies growIn Flanders fields.
In Flanders fields the poppies blowBetween the crosses, row on row,That mark our place; and in the skyThe larks, still bravely singing, flyScarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days agoWe lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,Loved and were loved, and now we lie,In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:To you from failing hands we throwThe torch; be yours to hold it high.If ye break faith with us who dieWe shall not sleep, though poppies growIn Flanders fields.
Words in this poem
- bravely adv.
- In a brave manner; courageously; gallantly; valiantly; splendidly; nobly.
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In Flanders Fields is in the public domain. This text is taken from In Flanders Fields, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #353; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John McCrae, In Flanders Fields, in In Flanders Fields, and Other Poems (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mccrae-flanders/in-flanders-fields.html, id L17031.
Form and metre
In Flanders Fields is 30 lines in 6 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 53% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBA growA · rowA · skyB · flyB · belowA
- 2 AA-- agoA · glowA · lie · fields
- 3 AABBA- foeA · throwA · highB · dieB · growA · fields
- 4 AABBA blowA · rowA · skyB · flyB · belowA
- 5 AA-- agoA · glowA · lie · fields
- 6 AABBA- foeA · throwA · highB · dieB · growA · fields
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| In Flanders fields the poppies grow | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Between the crosses, row on row | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That mark our place: and in the sky | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| The larks still bravely singing, fly | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Scarce heard amid the guns below. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| We are the Dead. Short days ago | 8 | ······˘/ |
| We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, | 9 | ··˘···/·· |
| Loved, and were loved, and now we lie | 10 | ·˘···˘···· |
| In Flanders fields. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Take up our quarrel with the foe: | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| To you from failing hands we throw | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The Torch: be yours to hold it high! | 8 | ········ |
| If ye break faith with us who die | 8 | ········ |
| We shall not sleep, though poppies grow | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In Flanders fields. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| In Flanders fields the poppies blow | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Between the crosses, row on row, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That mark our place; and in the sky | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| The larks, still bravely singing, fly | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Scarce heard amid the guns below. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| We are the Dead. Short days ago | 8 | ······˘/ |
| We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, | 9 | ··˘···/·· |
| Loved and were loved, and now we lie, | 10 | ·˘···˘···· |
| In Flanders fields. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Take up our quarrel with the foe: | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| To you from failing hands we throw | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The torch; be yours to hold it high. | 8 | ········ |
| If ye break faith with us who die | 8 | ········ |
| We shall not sleep, though poppies grow | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In Flanders fields. | 4 | ·/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.