Why Did He Rip Up The Poem?
What are Remembrance Day and Memorial Day all about?
I've always found it intriguing that John McCrae, the author of the poem In Flander's Fields, threw away the poem shortly after writing it, and that it wouldn't be the most popular war poem of all time if not for the fact that Lt. Col. Edward Morrison fished it out of the trash.
Why did McCrae throw it away? In my opinion, it's inspired literature--at least through the first two stanzas. The simple, concise imagery and simple rhyme scheme juxtaposed with the grim subject matter seem to underscore the folly of war; we lived, we loved, we died--and for what? Our lives were sacrificed for the sake of creating a season's worth of ephemeral beauty:
In stanza two, he writes:
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
It may be wishful thinking on my part, but I'd like to think that John McCrae threw away the poem because of the explicitly pro-war sentiment of the final stanza, which seems to directly contradict the imagery and sentiments of the previous two:
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
The sentiments expressed in these lines are very similar to the current circular logic the Bush Administration uses for the current war in Iraq: We have to continue fighting a meaningless war so that those who have died in a meaningless war will not have died in vain.
Does remembering our veterans and the sacrifice they've made lead to repeating the same mistakes? Does it mean unquestioning loyalty to one's country? Does it lead to more nationalism and militarism and fan the fames for future wars?
Freedom isn't free, but some end up paying a higher price than others. Why not have a special day to recognize the service of those who fought to keep our young people away from the latest bullshit war, and instead spent our tax dollars on healthcare, education, and human services?
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed -Dwight D. Eisenhower
I've always found it intriguing that John McCrae, the author of the poem In Flander's Fields, threw away the poem shortly after writing it, and that it wouldn't be the most popular war poem of all time if not for the fact that Lt. Col. Edward Morrison fished it out of the trash.
Why did McCrae throw it away? In my opinion, it's inspired literature--at least through the first two stanzas. The simple, concise imagery and simple rhyme scheme juxtaposed with the grim subject matter seem to underscore the folly of war; we lived, we loved, we died--and for what? Our lives were sacrificed for the sake of creating a season's worth of ephemeral beauty:
In stanza two, he writes:
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
It may be wishful thinking on my part, but I'd like to think that John McCrae threw away the poem because of the explicitly pro-war sentiment of the final stanza, which seems to directly contradict the imagery and sentiments of the previous two:
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
The sentiments expressed in these lines are very similar to the current circular logic the Bush Administration uses for the current war in Iraq: We have to continue fighting a meaningless war so that those who have died in a meaningless war will not have died in vain.
Does remembering our veterans and the sacrifice they've made lead to repeating the same mistakes? Does it mean unquestioning loyalty to one's country? Does it lead to more nationalism and militarism and fan the fames for future wars?
Freedom isn't free, but some end up paying a higher price than others. Why not have a special day to recognize the service of those who fought to keep our young people away from the latest bullshit war, and instead spent our tax dollars on healthcare, education, and human services?
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed -Dwight D. Eisenhower
