In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian ArmyIn Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.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.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.
So I’ve been thinking a lot about war recently, what with armistice day recently, and firstly why did they choose this poem? Its a terrible poem. Just because some one has seen horrible things doesn’t mean they can write good poetry, seriously. There are many way better poems than this that could be used. And the last verse I find morally off anyway, we shouldn’t be continuing wars we should be ending them.
also I love this Post
But mostly what I’ve been thinking about in relation to war is gender roles. the received feminist wisdom is that the second world war was good for women because it gave them the chance to go out to work and thus broke down gender roles.
And I just really disagree with this analysis. yes more women went out to work during the war, but when we talk about how this was good for women we are talking about middle class women.
Women always worked, see here, and here.
this is an example of feminism, once again, front and centering the issues and concerns and history of middle class women and erasing the history and experiences of other women out of existence.
But also when we talk about how gender roles changed because of the war we mean women’s roles. But i wonder a lot about what the war did (and in general wars do) to masculinity, to male gender roles. taking a whole generation of men and traumatising the shit out of them and then expecting them to come home and carry on business as usual, cant have been good for the men, for their relationships, or for society. and I’d suggest that the war actually entrenched what we think of masculinity today partly because it created incredibly strong bonds between men in the absence of women and secondly because the experiences and then lack of space to be able to deal and talk about those experiences must have disconnected them totally from their emotions
Thanks for the compliments on my post…you’re so right, it’s a horrible poem, and one that I still feel kinda *guilty* for criticizing, because there’s this impression that if you hate the expression than you disrespect/disregard/disbelieve the experiences. So, well put.
Also well put about the “conventional wisdom” with respect to women’s roles and WWII. I would add another frustration with a statement I’ve heard more than once that war was somehow a necessary force in the advancement of women’s rights, thereby detracting from the idea that non-violent change is legitimately possible.
Hey Purtek
Yeah better poems that show the experiences of war would be Sassoon or Owen I feel, there is something really disconnected about the Flanders field one, and I actually think that’s why its used because like you say it isn’t bringing the horrors of war to the public, it sanitises it.
I’ve heard more than once that war was somehow a necessary force in the advancement of women’s rights, thereby detracting from the idea that non-violent change is legitimately possible.
This is interesting I haven’t heard this argument in relation to women’s rights but i have heard it in relation to technology, like we wouldn’t have the technology we have today if we hadn’t needed it for war, which seems bizarre to me because if it wasn’t for war we wouldn’t have to waste all that time money and people researching how to make war machines