What does the poem want to express?

When we read it, we are meant to feel sympathy for the dead victims of the war who
rest in that field because we see their wonderful lives before the war and how it was
ended fighting for their country. We are supposed to think of them and remember the
war and all other wars and live fully the life they made for us. We are supposed carry
on what they did. The deceased in this poem are afraid that we won't remember them
and won't carry on their efforts and patriotism, even though the poppies grow in the
graveyard for remembrance. We have to carry on the torch for them and for ourselves.
From this poem, we also feel the fear of dying because those in this poem who once
lived and fought for their country are now nothing but crosses in a graveyard.

This poem uses figurative language to get its very poignant message across. Mainly, it
brings the dead back to life to narrate this poem. The first stanza of the poem provides
visual imagery of the graveyard. The poppies blowing between the crosses are
symbolic of remembrance. The larks, "still bravely singing," are personified to express
bravery, which is a human emotion. The "guns below" are the ceremonies held for
these men who bravely fought. Basically we are shown the beauty of the graveyard
and signs of people remembering the deceased. The second stanza introduces the
leader to not only their death, but also their life. Suddenly we feel sympathy for the
young people buried here, whose lives were ruined by terrible warfare. In the third
stanza we are shown the anguish of their spirits. They are brought to life in this poem
to send us their message. Their "failing hands" can not of course literally throw a torch,
which is symbolic of the war effort and patriotism. This is simply meant to represent
the legacy that they are leaving behind them. This stanza is a paradox of the first,
saying that peace and remembrance does not come from mere ceremony, but from us
living out their legacy. The message in this poem is for all to live and understand.

Analysis of the poem

The poem consist of two parts. It is written in a lambic tetrameter ending in a unusual
rhyme structure AABBCCC D in the first stanza. It ends with a 2 beat lambic verse: “In
Flanders Fields”, which is repeated at the end of the poem.
The second stanza had a AABBAD rhyme structure . In the first stanza the speaker
describes the situation since he is dead now. In the second stanza he addresses his
living fellow soldiers, telling them to continue the fight. Since the poem can be divided
into an octet (8 lindes) and a sextet (6 lines) with a turning point between the form of
the poem reminds us to the sonnet form.

Symbolism

In the first line it says "In Flanders Fields the poppies blow". The poppy is known as a
symbol of sleep. The last line "We shall not sleep, though poppies grow / In Flanders
Fields" point to this fact. Some kinds of poppies can be used to derive opium, from
which morphine can be made. Morphine is one of the strongest painkillers and was
often used to put a wounded soldier to sleep. Sometimes medical doctors used it in a
higher dose to put the incurably wounded out of their misery. Poppies were also the
only plant that grew in the western front during the war, and during that time poppies
were constantly being blown into the author's face, which gave him reason enough
and the inspiration to include them in the poem. Other symbols in this poem include
the larks, sited in lines four and five. The idea McCrae conveys in this stanza is the
fragility of human life "The larks, still bravely singing, fly / Scarce heard amid the guns
below." The lark (bird) is known for its careless free spirit that symbolizes the oblivious
people living in areas free from war. Meaning while life is being snatched away from
the soldiers, people like us are carrying on with our carefree lives oblivious to the
horrors of the battlefield. The last stanza (see poem) has the most important piece of
symbolism in the poem . . . the torch. The torch represents the war itself, and if no one
were to take up arms and head into battle, than the millions of soldiers that died for
this cause would have died in vein. Meaning that if no one carries on the war then, the
ball has dropped, the game has ended and it was all done for nothing.

Poppies
Are one of the first images portrayed in "In Flanders Fields" and they are an enduring
part of the poem. The poppies grow on the graves of the dead soldiers who have been
killed in World War I They function as symbols of rebirth and of the importance of
remembrance. The poppies are assigned two verbs in the poem as they "blow" and
"grow." These are simple actions which are assigned an emotional weight. The
importance of the poppies as symbols emerges from the gentle, natural contrast they
provide to the horrors of the battlefield.

The humans have come to the fields and they have killed one another. Their bodies are
buried beneath the ground and will now provide nutrients for the plants which bloom
in the spring. The poppies are a defiant symbol of nature's ability to absorb even the
most harrowing violence. The dead soldiers have returned to the earth. Their bodies
have helped begin the life of the flowers. The poppies symbolize the power of nature
to endure and be reborn in the most difficult circumstances.

Birds
The speaker of "In Flanders Fields" describes the "larks, still bravely singing" that fly
overhead. Larks are a species of bird and they function as symbols of the tension
between humanity and the natural world. The larks are able to defy gravity in a way
that humans cannot. The early aircraft available to humans at the beginning of World
War I were limited and relatively rare. Therefore, the majority of humans are bound to
the ground. They must walk, stumble, and crawl along the devastated earth and
navigate the mud and barbed wire. Humans are confined to the mess that they have
created while the larks have the ability to rise above the battlefield and fly through the
empty air. The larks have a broad perspective on the damage that has been done. They
can see the extent of the devastation. The birds represent the ability of nature to rise
above the destructive tendencies of the humans.
The speaker states that the birds are "still bravely singing" which symbolizes nature's
refusal to be beaten into submission by the violence of war. The larks symbolize
nature's capacity to overcome the devastation of the humans, even if nature must
endure a temporary, violent setback.

Consequences

The poppies have also come to symbolize remembrance. People wear poppies on
November 11 in many countries to commemorate both the ending of World War I and
the people who died during the war. The symbol of the poppy as an emblem of
remembrance is built largely on its portrayal throughout "In Flanders Fields." The
poppies grow on the graves and mark the locations of each dead man. The sheer
number of graves makes comprehending the scale of the violence difficult. The entire
field of poppies symbolizes the unity of the dead. The dead soldiers are as innumerable
as the poppies which cover a field. The overall effect is striking. An entire field of red
poppies functions as a symbol of the legions of men who were killed during the war.
The poppies cannot possibly be counted or viewed individually, and the same is true of
the dead soldiers. The poppies symbolize remembrance because they combine the
message of rebirth with the image of violence which was never meant to be repeated.