The exact words
“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.”John McCrae, “In Flanders Fields,” Punch, December 8, 1915
✓ VerifiedFound in a primary source: the original book, speech transcript, letter or recording.
What people get wrong
Common reading
A gentle poem about peace.
A gentle poem about peace.
Closer to the original
It is a call to keep fighting. The third verse asks the living to “take up our quarrel with the foe” and was used in recruiting and war-bond campaigns.
It is a call to keep fighting. The third verse asks the living to “take up our quarrel with the foe” and was used in recruiting and war-bond campaigns.
Timeline
- May 1915During the Second Battle of Ypres, the Canadian doctor John McCrae writes the poem after burying a friend killed by a shell.
- December 1915The poem is published anonymously in the British magazine Punch and becomes one of the most famous poems of the war.
- 1918McCrae dies of pneumonia in France. The American teacher Moina Michael, moved by the poem, begins campaigning for the red poppy as a symbol of remembrance.
- TodayPoppies are worn on Remembrance Day in Britain and the Commonwealth and on Memorial Day in the United States, and the poem is read at services.
Use it in a speech
In Flanders fields the poppies blow between the crosses, row on row. John McCrae wrote those words in 1915 for the friends he buried. Today we wear the poppy for ours.
~11 secondsto say aloud
Pauseafter “row on row”
Best spotthe opening of the service
He served, and like the soldiers in John McCrae's poem, he lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, loved and was loved.
~7 secondsto say aloud
Pauseafter “loved and was loved”
Best spotthe end of a veteran's eulogy
Questions people ask
Who wrote “In Flanders Fields”?
John McCrae, a Canadian army doctor, in May 1915 during the Second Battle of Ypres.
Why are poppies a symbol of remembrance?
Poppies grew on the churned-up battlefields of Flanders. McCrae's poem made them famous, and Moina Michael and others campaigned to make the poppy the emblem of remembrance.
Where was it first published?
In Punch magazine, London, on December 8, 1915.
Cite this quote
These cite the original source directly, so you can use them in an essay or paper. Always check your teacher's required style.
MLAMcCrae, John. “In Flanders Fields”. May 1915. Project Gutenberg, www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/353.
APAMcCrae, J. (1915). “In Flanders Fields”. Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/353
CHICAGOJohn McCrae, “In Flanders Fields”, May 1915.
IN TEXT (APA)(McCrae, 1915)