In Flanders Fields - Andrea

Soldiers Pass On The Torch - Andrea

In the poem 'In Flanders Fields', John McCrae uses metaphors, alliteration and symbols to put the reader in the dead soldiers' shoes and tells them to continue the war they started.

Poetic Techniques:

The main technique used in this poem are symbols, but as mentioned above, McCrae also included metaphors and alliteration. In the concluding stanza, McCrae mentions a torch that will be given to "you" by the Dead. "The torch; be yours to hold it high" It is a metaphor for the duty that the dead soldiers are passing on to the living, which must be held up high like an object of pride. McCrae gives the war dead a voice, sending a message to the living that they need to help the soldiers fight their fight.

Alliteration is used throughout the poem to help structure it, the most obvious being "Flanders fields" in all three stanzas. The poem is written in first person, and in the line "We are the Dead", it not only gives the war dead a voice, as aforesaid, but also puts the reader face to face with the soldiers on the battlefield. McCrae also uses "you" in the lines "Take up our quarrel with the foe/To you from failing hands we throw" to directly address the reader to pass on the duty to them.

The most dominant symbol in the poem are the poppies. It is a symbol of the fallen soldiers and is associated with Remembrance Day in the present-time. Another symbol would be the larks. It represents the people who persevere to carry on, even through the worst times. They contrast with the world below as the birds are symbols of natural beauty and they still sing when gunshots are being fired below.

Theme:

The major theme in the poem is remembrance. Remembrance of the fallen and how their fight still hasn't been fought. Which is why us, the readers, need to "take up their quarrel with the foe" and finish the war so that the soldiers would not have died in vain.

After all, who would want to upset the dead?