Summary and composition

In what follows, we will focus on the summary and composition of the poem “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae.

Summary

The poem is set in Flanders fields in Belgium and presents the point of view of dead soldiers on war and sacrifice. The dead rest their bodies on a field of poppies while the battles still go on. They are recently dead and can still remember how it was to be alive, to watch the sunset, to love and be loved. They appeal to those still alive to continue their fight with the enemy as they will have no rest if the living abandon the fight they have started.

Composition

Composition refers to the outer and inner structure of poems. An overview of the outer composition deals with features related to form (stanzas, verses, graphical expression). The inner composition deals with the content of a poem and with the way the ideas expressed are formulated and presented.

Outer composition

“In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae is organised as a rondeau poem. This is a fixed-form poem in terms of rhyme pattern and follows the scheme AABBA–AABR–AABBAR. Because of the repea...