Compare the Imagery in Mccrae's ''in Flanders Fields'' and Kipling's ''for All We Have and Are''
Topic: Compare the Imagery in McCrae 's ' 'In Flanders Fields ' ' and Kipling 's ' 'For All We Have and Are ' '
' 'Few countries in the world have a poem printed on their currency, but Canada does … it is the first verse of John McCrae 's ' 'In Flanders Fields, ' ' a poem that each November is recited in school gymnasiums and around war memorials in Canada and throughout many other English-speaking countries. ' ' (Holmes 1.). In this paper I am going to argue why the poem ' 'In Flanders’s Fields ' ' by John Alexander McCrae 's, published December 8, 1915 in the magazine Punch is through its imagery so famous that it is printed on the Canadian dollar and why Rudyard Kipling 's ' 'For All We Have and Are ' ' written in 1914 is not as popular, even though both poems want to send a related message towards the First World War. McCrae 's ' 'In Flanders Fields ' ' is more famous than Kipling 's ' ' For All We Have and Are ' ', because McCrae 's imagery is a pure euphemism for the ' 'ugly truth ' '.
The pastoral beginning of the first stanza of ' 'In Flanders Fields ' ' introduces the reader to a poem which lives of its colorful imagery. In the first line McCrae introduces the most important symbol of this poem, the poppies ' 'In Flanders fields the poppies blow / ' ' (1). The poppies are a symbol for the fallen soldiers of the First World War. One can argue that McCrae uses poppies because of their red color like the red blood from dead soldiers and that he wants the dead soldiers to be never forgotten like those beautiful flowers which come up again every year. He underlines this point again in the last line when he says that we should not forget the soldiers as long as poppies grow: ' 'We shall not sleep, though poppies grow/ ' ' (14) Another evidence that the poppies are a symbol for the fallen soldiers is when he says that the poppies stand in a formation like soldiers in the army: ' 'Between the crosses, row on row, / ' ' (2). The next
' 'Few countries in the world have a poem printed on their currency, but Canada does … it is the first verse of John McCrae 's ' 'In Flanders Fields, ' ' a poem that each November is recited in school gymnasiums and around war memorials in Canada and throughout many other English-speaking countries. ' ' (Holmes 1.). In this paper I am going to argue why the poem ' 'In Flanders’s Fields ' ' by John Alexander McCrae 's, published December 8, 1915 in the magazine Punch is through its imagery so famous that it is printed on the Canadian dollar and why Rudyard Kipling 's ' 'For All We Have and Are ' ' written in 1914 is not as popular, even though both poems want to send a related message towards the First World War. McCrae 's ' 'In Flanders Fields ' ' is more famous than Kipling 's ' ' For All We Have and Are ' ', because McCrae 's imagery is a pure euphemism for the ' 'ugly truth ' '.
The pastoral beginning of the first stanza of ' 'In Flanders Fields ' ' introduces the reader to a poem which lives of its colorful imagery. In the first line McCrae introduces the most important symbol of this poem, the poppies ' 'In Flanders fields the poppies blow / ' ' (1). The poppies are a symbol for the fallen soldiers of the First World War. One can argue that McCrae uses poppies because of their red color like the red blood from dead soldiers and that he wants the dead soldiers to be never forgotten like those beautiful flowers which come up again every year. He underlines this point again in the last line when he says that we should not forget the soldiers as long as poppies grow: ' 'We shall not sleep, though poppies grow/ ' ' (14) Another evidence that the poppies are a symbol for the fallen soldiers is when he says that the poppies stand in a formation like soldiers in the army: ' 'Between the crosses, row on row, / ' ' (2). The next
Cited: McCrae, John. ' 'In Flanders Fields ' ' London: Punch, 1915. Print. . Kipling, Rudyard. ' 'For All We Have and Are ' '. 1914. Print. Holmes, Nancy. "In Flanders Fields ' '- Canada 's Official Poem: Breaking Faith.". n. page. Print. The Kippling society. ' 'The Kipling Journal ' ' .62.245 (1988): 50-51. Print. E i g e n s t ä n d i g k e i t s e r k l ä r u n g Hiermit erkläre ich,Sonja Günther, dass ich die vorliegende Arbeit selbstständig verfasst und gelieferte Datensätze, Zeichnungen, Skizzen und graphische Darstellungen selbständig erstellt habe. Ich habe keine anderen Quellen als die angegebenen benutzt und habe die Stellen der Arbeit, die anderen Werken entnommen sind - einschl. verwendeter Tabellen und Abbildungen - in jedem einzelnen Fall unter Angabe der Quelle als Entlehnung kenntlich gemacht. Bielefeld, den 10.06.2013 ________________________