"In Flanders Field"

“In Flanders Field”

In 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. 

John McCrae

Written by John McCrae in 1915, “Flanders Field” is without doubt one of my favorite poems. John McCrae was a field surgeon for the Canadian army during the First World War. The death of his friend and student, Alexis Helmer, motivated McCrae to write “In Flanders Field.” The poem itself was written during the Second Battle of Ypres, a period during which McCrae was under constant German artillery fire and threat of death. The story of the author himself contributes to the understanding and perception the audience will have of the text. For me, the duress McCrae was under, as well as the knowledge that McCrae wrote the poem during the actual battle adds meaning to the work. It adds an element of realism and truth that wouldn’t be present if the author had not been present at the battle or if the poem had been written many years later. McCrae, himself, died during the war in 1818 of pneumonia.

            The first stanza introduces the setting of the poem. Flanders is the northwestern part of Belgium where a significant portion of World War 1 battles was fought. Flanders has an oceanic climate with colder temperatures and rain on most days. McCrae mentions blowing “poppies” due to the abundance of poppy fields in which many battles were fought. Poppies are known for their abilities to grow on very uneven terrains, such as the thousands of artillery craters McCrae would have seen from his trench on the front lines. Poppies are also bright red in color, reminiscent of the bloodshed that occurred during the battle. The “crosses, row on row,” was included by McCrae as a way for the audience to picture the number of lives that were lost in the battle. McCrae also mentions the larks “still bravely singing.” Larks are known in popular culture for the beauty of their song. McCrae uses the singing of the larks to sharply contrast the screaming of the “guns below.” Larks are also used in literature to symbolize one’s passage from the Earth to Heaven, a fitting symbolism, given the thousands who died at Ypres.

            The narrator is introduced as being the dead of the battle. In the poem McCrae capitalizes the word “Dead,” to show that victims of the war are now collectively referred to as “the dead,” thereby replacing their actual names. This demonstrates the lack of humanity in war, where the dead lose their identity and are just one more casualty. McCrae emphasizes the suddenness of death by recounting that only days ago, the dead had felt sunrises and sunsets, which are popularly known for their emotion and feeling. The last stanza is a plead by “the Dead” for others to finish what they started. The torch mentioned by McCrae is a reference to the Olympic torch, which is passed by one runner to another, for the next part of the journey. McCrae finishes the poem by saying that if the task of fighting “foe” is not taken up, the Dead’s deaths will be meaningless and they will not be able to rest in peace.

William Blake and Grendel

A stanza from William Blake’s poem, “The Mental Traveller” can be found at the beginning of John Gardner’s novel, Grendel. The reason for the poetry’s inclusion most likely lies in the fact that the traditional themes of Blake’s poetry, such as cycles, knowledge, the loss of innocence, can be found again and again in Grendel. Grendel describes his innocent childhood, as he played alone in the dark cave. The darkness is not only literally describing the lair, but also symbolizes the lack of knowledge, which is commonly associated with light. Grendel is innocent because he is in the darkness of his cave, protected from the truth that is brought with knowledge. He is strongly dependent on his mother for comfort and survival. The idea that youth is innocent and free, but at the same time, lacks knowledge and greater understanding is strongly reminiscent of Blake’s poetry. For instance, in “Infant Joy,” in which the infant is evidently representative of youth, the infant says: “I happy am, Joy is my name.” The child in the poem does not seem to be aware of her surroundings, nor her own identity. This lack of awareness is representative of the lack of knowledge that is associated with joy and youth in Blake’s poetry and in Grendel’s early stages in the cave.

“Infant Sorrow,” the sister poem to “Infant Joy,” brings another perspective, which is that of truth and realization. In this poem, the child appears to be aware and possesses her own identity, rather than simply being an extension of her mother. The world into which the child leaps is “dangerous,” and in the poem, is a struggle the child must face. One of those struggles is against her swaddling bands. Swaddling bands are used to restrain babies into feeling safe and secure, almost like a shield or cover. Comparatively, Grendel’s own “leap” into the world is the night he crosses the pond and discovers the world outside the cave. As the child observes in “Infant Sorrow,” the world Grendel finds is not safe and innocent like the cave in which he resided. It is full of violence and death. Grendel watches men meaninglessly murder each other and letting livestock and property go to waste. Much like the child possesses her own identity in the poem, Grendel becomes independent of his mother the night he finds himself trapped in the double tree and his mother is not there to comfort him. The swaddling band with which Grendel clashes is the beautiful, comforting view of the world that the Shaper produces. This “truth” is meant to cover the meaningless brutality of the world so that the Danes may feel safe, like babies in swaddling bands. However, like in Blake’s poems, the loss of innocence that comes with time is also accompanied with knowledge and wisdom. Grendel is now aware. He dives into his own subconscious and meets his dragon, which brings him knowledge unknown to the men who are shielded in the darkness of the Shaper’s swaddling bands.

The Man Who Wrote Grendel

John Gardner was born on July 21, 1933 in Batavia, New York. His parents were of humble backgrounds. His father was a preacher and dairy farmer, and his mother a local English schoolteacher. Gardner occasionally worked on his father’s farm, and at the age of twelve, experienced a traumatic shock that many say impacted his works. Gardner was driving a tractor when his younger brother, Gilbert, was killed in an accident involving a cultipacker (equipment used to compact dirt for cultivation). Gardner is said to have suffered from nightmares and flashbacks for the remainder of his life. Critics often claim that Gilbert’s death strongly influenced the perception of meaning, death, and purpose in Gardner’s works.

Gardner entered DePauw University in 1951 first intending on becoming a chemistry major. However, he had a change of heart and instead decided to become a writer. He soon left DePauw (in 1953) and went on to marry his first wife, Joan Louise Patterson. He then returned to college, this time at Washington State, from which he graduated in 1955. He later obtained his M. A. and Ph.D. from Iowa State University in 1956 and 1958 respectively. Many ideas for his works came to him in college. Gardner was awarded the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship. His professional career began with his teachings of creative writing and medieval literature. His radical ways of teaching meant Gardner had to move often and teach at numerous colleges. His first novel was The Resurrection, which told the story of a professor dying of leukemia, focusing on mortality. Critics claim that many of the themes presented in the novel reflected Gardner’s perceptions of life following the death of his brother. In 1969, Gardner received a grant to work on Grendel. His third novel was the first to show a distinctive style of writing, as it was the first to truly make use of poetry in its structure. Grendel was received warmly by critics and was praised as one of the greatest fiction novels of the time. Once again, the themes of existence and mortality most likely drew their source from Gardner’s traumatic experience with his brother. Gardner often thought of himself as a lone poet in a purposeless world. This strongly resembles the role of the Shaper who, in the work, gives the world purpose by “maintaining that nothing is in vain.” Grendel launched Gardner into literary fame and success. His later novels earned him many praises. He was awarded the Danforth and the Guggenheim Fellowships. The Guggenheim grant allowed Gardner to retire from teaching without worrying about providing for his family. Soon after starting his last work, a translation of Gilgamesh, Gardner was diagnosed with colon cancer. He spent over a month at John Hopkins Hospital undergoing treatment from which he survived. He divorced his first wife and married a woman by the name of Liz Rosenberg. Two years later, Gardner left Rosenberg and chose to marry Susan Shreve (a writer). Soon after their marriage, however, Gardner was killed in a motorcycle accident in Pennsylvania at the age of 49.

Works Cited

"John C. Gardner." John C. Gardner. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. <http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Gardner__John.html>.

"John Gardner (American Author)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/225924/John-Gardner>.