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In Flanders Fields: 100 Years: Writing on War, Loss and Remembrance
A beautifully designed collection of essays on war, loss and remembrance to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the writing of Canada's most famous poem.
In early 1915, the death of a young friend on the battlefields of Ypres inspired Canadian soldier, field surgeon and poet John McCrae to write "In Flanders Fields." Within months of the poem's December 1915 publication in the British magazine Punch it became part of the collective consciousness in North America and Europe, and its extraordinary power has endured over the decades and across generations. In this anthology, Canada's finest historians, novelists and poets contemplate the evolving meaning of the poem; the man who wrote it and the World War I setting from which it emerged; its themes of valour, grief and remembrance; and the iconic image of the poppy.
Among the thirteen Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire (ret'd) writes about the emotional meaning of the poem for war veterans; Tim Cook describes the rich and varied life of McCrae; Frances Itani revisits her time in Flanders, and mines the acts of witnessing and remembering; Kevin Patterson offers a riveting depiction of the adrenaline-fueled work of a WWI field surgeon; Mary Janigan reveals the poem's surprisingly divisive effect during the 1917 federal election; Ken Dryden tells us how lines from the poem ended up on the wall of the Montreal Canadiens' dressing room; and Patrick Lane recalls a Remembrance Day from his childhood in a moving reflection on how war shapes us all.
Gorgeously designed in full colour with archival and contemporary images, In Flanders 100 Years will reflect and illuminate the importance of art in how we process war and loss.
In early 1915, the death of a young friend on the battlefields of Ypres inspired Canadian soldier, field surgeon and poet John McCrae to write "In Flanders Fields." Within months of the poem's December 1915 publication in the British magazine Punch it became part of the collective consciousness in North America and Europe, and its extraordinary power has endured over the decades and across generations. In this anthology, Canada's finest historians, novelists and poets contemplate the evolving meaning of the poem; the man who wrote it and the World War I setting from which it emerged; its themes of valour, grief and remembrance; and the iconic image of the poppy.
Among the thirteen Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire (ret'd) writes about the emotional meaning of the poem for war veterans; Tim Cook describes the rich and varied life of McCrae; Frances Itani revisits her time in Flanders, and mines the acts of witnessing and remembering; Kevin Patterson offers a riveting depiction of the adrenaline-fueled work of a WWI field surgeon; Mary Janigan reveals the poem's surprisingly divisive effect during the 1917 federal election; Ken Dryden tells us how lines from the poem ended up on the wall of the Montreal Canadiens' dressing room; and Patrick Lane recalls a Remembrance Day from his childhood in a moving reflection on how war shapes us all.
Gorgeously designed in full colour with archival and contemporary images, In Flanders 100 Years will reflect and illuminate the importance of art in how we process war and loss.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published October 27, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
November 22, 2020
I was looking for a poem to recite on Remembrance day (other than the classical In Flanders Fields), and the librarian led me to this book. It discusses the life and work of John McCrae, but also the impacts of war (WWI, WWII and contemporary conflicts such as the war in Afghanistan) on soldiers and their families. It also mentions how poetry was used to promote government propaganda, or (sadly) sell goods.
For me, a recent Canadian immigrant, the book was a fantastic way to catch up on some of Canada's modern history. The pictures and painting reproductions are gorgeous! Not all contributors kept my interest though. Current politicians writing for this editions bored me so much I skipped those chapter. I was also unpleasantly surprised to not connect at all with Margaret Atwood's contribution (and her decision to highlight in red in her text the words that match "In Fields of Flanders" did not impress me much).
The strongest pieces for me were the ones that investigated the cost of war on soldier's psyche. PTSD is discussed a lot, and yet perhaps still not enough. The shock young men fighting in WWI had when the went out to fight monsters who in fact were other young men almost exactly like themselves is beautifully explored. The war trenches also permanently separated those serving from the ones who stayed behind. "I simply could not speak to such people, recalled captain Herbert Reed, much less cooperate with them. It was not that I despise them. I even envied them. But between us was a dark screen of horror and violation; the knowledge of the reality of war. Across that screen I could not communicate. Nor could any of my friends who had the same experience. We could only stand on one side, like exiles in a strange country.”
It's hard to write a compelling essay about war, non-fiction seems to not do a good enough job in rendering the horrors those men endured. Hannah Moskivitch therefore concludes its best to talk about war and the people trapped in it in mediums that "suggest rather than denote: poetry, fiction, drama.”
And thus, an exhausted, rattled Canadian soldier is responsible for embedding in our minds one of the most beautiful, intense symbols for remembrance: the poppy. He may have been unaware of "the cruel irony that poppies flourished in the fields of Flanders only because constant shelling and rivers of blood had transformed the chemistry of the soil.”
The biggest revelation of the book for me however was that it highlighted how WWI may have been more brutal than any war in modern time. Some probably feared it would never end. Armament and chemical advancements made it a particularly cruel, demoralizing conflagration. Now soldiers are prepared for the possibility of a chemical attack. Then, the disintegration of lungs and tissue, the slow death after a gas attack, was unheard of. How did those men survive? I wonder if Wait Davis is right when saying: “These, after all, were men of discretion and decorum, a generation unprepared to litter the world with itself, unwilling to yield feelings to analysis, yet individuals so confident in their masculinity that they could speak of love between men without shame , collect butterflies in the dawn, paint watercolors in late morning, discuss Keats and Shelley over lunch and still be prepared to attack the German lines at dusk. They were men the likes of which we will never know again. (...) and perhaps for us the most amazing things of all is that these men were our grandfathers.”
For me, a recent Canadian immigrant, the book was a fantastic way to catch up on some of Canada's modern history. The pictures and painting reproductions are gorgeous! Not all contributors kept my interest though. Current politicians writing for this editions bored me so much I skipped those chapter. I was also unpleasantly surprised to not connect at all with Margaret Atwood's contribution (and her decision to highlight in red in her text the words that match "In Fields of Flanders" did not impress me much).
The strongest pieces for me were the ones that investigated the cost of war on soldier's psyche. PTSD is discussed a lot, and yet perhaps still not enough. The shock young men fighting in WWI had when the went out to fight monsters who in fact were other young men almost exactly like themselves is beautifully explored. The war trenches also permanently separated those serving from the ones who stayed behind. "I simply could not speak to such people, recalled captain Herbert Reed, much less cooperate with them. It was not that I despise them. I even envied them. But between us was a dark screen of horror and violation; the knowledge of the reality of war. Across that screen I could not communicate. Nor could any of my friends who had the same experience. We could only stand on one side, like exiles in a strange country.”
It's hard to write a compelling essay about war, non-fiction seems to not do a good enough job in rendering the horrors those men endured. Hannah Moskivitch therefore concludes its best to talk about war and the people trapped in it in mediums that "suggest rather than denote: poetry, fiction, drama.”
And thus, an exhausted, rattled Canadian soldier is responsible for embedding in our minds one of the most beautiful, intense symbols for remembrance: the poppy. He may have been unaware of "the cruel irony that poppies flourished in the fields of Flanders only because constant shelling and rivers of blood had transformed the chemistry of the soil.”
The biggest revelation of the book for me however was that it highlighted how WWI may have been more brutal than any war in modern time. Some probably feared it would never end. Armament and chemical advancements made it a particularly cruel, demoralizing conflagration. Now soldiers are prepared for the possibility of a chemical attack. Then, the disintegration of lungs and tissue, the slow death after a gas attack, was unheard of. How did those men survive? I wonder if Wait Davis is right when saying: “These, after all, were men of discretion and decorum, a generation unprepared to litter the world with itself, unwilling to yield feelings to analysis, yet individuals so confident in their masculinity that they could speak of love between men without shame , collect butterflies in the dawn, paint watercolors in late morning, discuss Keats and Shelley over lunch and still be prepared to attack the German lines at dusk. They were men the likes of which we will never know again. (...) and perhaps for us the most amazing things of all is that these men were our grandfathers.”
October 3, 2018
This book is an unique take on the poem "In Flanders Fields". It gives way to several authors, historians, and politicians-who at one point were either soldiers or athletes, but had became writers, along with politicians-an opportunity to write about their thoughts on the poem and its impact on WWI and II, along with our present views of wars in general.
The opinions of the varied backgrounds of all involved, including the generational gaps, provides varying experience and thoughts on the poem. Some, like bestselling Canadian Historical author Tim Cook, give us a glimpse of the man behind the poem, and how he came to that point in his life.
There are glimpses of those who grew up in the shadow of the Great war. With loss hanging on their family from a death or from lost time and changed people.
All in all, it gives an idea of how the poem was used to further political gains, to sell war bonds, or even to sell suits. It was at once a poem that saw no geographic boundaries, yet was used as a rallying call of the allied forces to volunteer for service in both World Wars, all the while holding an image of death and camaraderie. It seems (to me, at any rate), to be a sort of ying and yang. A poem that was written soon after the death of McCrae's friend in Belgium, but by a man who was a solider at heart, even more so than a doctor. A man who, even though the romanticism of war were destroyed after his time with the second Boer war, still believed in the 'good fight'. Who enlisted to serve again, if for no other reason, than to prevent young men from losing their lives and from young children from losing their fathers. Did he embrace the first two verses, more than the third, as he slowly sunk deeper into what we know call PTSD, from the sights and sounds and smells? We'll never know.
But, it seems that the beauty of his words are that war is a horrible endeavour, for all in involved, yet, there are times, when it is a necessity to fight for those who can't, and, when the time comes, we should fight, erstwhile those who came and went before died in vain.
As a person he, and his words, may have been made out to be larger than life over the years. Greater than the sum of their parts. But the words should be used, along with his memory of sacrifice. They should be used to remember him, and all those like him who fought. Those who died. Those who came back whole. And those who came back broken, mentality and physically. Those that dedicated doctors, like McCrae himself, tried so desperately to fix but could only do so much.
These are the thoughts that this book brought to my mind. The essays held within it relate the individual authors thoughts and feeling about the man and the poem. What it means to them. What it was used for and how it was portrayed after its first print. But mostly, it tells the stories of how a simple poem, an ode to the lost in the heat of bullets and mortars, become an iconic bit of imagery to The War to End All Wars.
The opinions of the varied backgrounds of all involved, including the generational gaps, provides varying experience and thoughts on the poem. Some, like bestselling Canadian Historical author Tim Cook, give us a glimpse of the man behind the poem, and how he came to that point in his life.
There are glimpses of those who grew up in the shadow of the Great war. With loss hanging on their family from a death or from lost time and changed people.
All in all, it gives an idea of how the poem was used to further political gains, to sell war bonds, or even to sell suits. It was at once a poem that saw no geographic boundaries, yet was used as a rallying call of the allied forces to volunteer for service in both World Wars, all the while holding an image of death and camaraderie. It seems (to me, at any rate), to be a sort of ying and yang. A poem that was written soon after the death of McCrae's friend in Belgium, but by a man who was a solider at heart, even more so than a doctor. A man who, even though the romanticism of war were destroyed after his time with the second Boer war, still believed in the 'good fight'. Who enlisted to serve again, if for no other reason, than to prevent young men from losing their lives and from young children from losing their fathers. Did he embrace the first two verses, more than the third, as he slowly sunk deeper into what we know call PTSD, from the sights and sounds and smells? We'll never know.
But, it seems that the beauty of his words are that war is a horrible endeavour, for all in involved, yet, there are times, when it is a necessity to fight for those who can't, and, when the time comes, we should fight, erstwhile those who came and went before died in vain.
As a person he, and his words, may have been made out to be larger than life over the years. Greater than the sum of their parts. But the words should be used, along with his memory of sacrifice. They should be used to remember him, and all those like him who fought. Those who died. Those who came back whole. And those who came back broken, mentality and physically. Those that dedicated doctors, like McCrae himself, tried so desperately to fix but could only do so much.
These are the thoughts that this book brought to my mind. The essays held within it relate the individual authors thoughts and feeling about the man and the poem. What it means to them. What it was used for and how it was portrayed after its first print. But mostly, it tells the stories of how a simple poem, an ode to the lost in the heat of bullets and mortars, become an iconic bit of imagery to The War to End All Wars.
November 9, 2024
3.5 Stars
As with most compilations, all contributions are not equal. Many of the entries were excellent and would get a 5 star rating from me. There were some, however, that were good but had nothing to do with the topic. And then there were a couple that were terrible and even disrespectful. If those couple entries were missing, this would be a much better compilation.
In my opinion, the best entries were by Tim Cook, Ken Dryden, Wade Davis, and Frances Itani - each one would get 5 stars if I was rating them individually. The worst entries were by Patrick Lane and Mary Janigan - they did not fit the tone of the book and should have been left out.
As with most compilations, all contributions are not equal. Many of the entries were excellent and would get a 5 star rating from me. There were some, however, that were good but had nothing to do with the topic. And then there were a couple that were terrible and even disrespectful. If those couple entries were missing, this would be a much better compilation.
In my opinion, the best entries were by Tim Cook, Ken Dryden, Wade Davis, and Frances Itani - each one would get 5 stars if I was rating them individually. The worst entries were by Patrick Lane and Mary Janigan - they did not fit the tone of the book and should have been left out.
April 19, 2024
Just finished this amazing collection of essays by famous Canadian authors, poets, historians, and playwrights that discusses the significance of McCrae’s infamous poem and how it has influenced and shaped not only Canadian culture, but it’s influence around the world over a century later.
Reasons I Recommend:
1) In Flanders Fields is a poem that most of the western world would recognize either as something used to honour their soldiers or to talk about the Great War and John McCrae being Canadian makes it more sentimental to us Canucks
2) Ken Dryden talks about the poem’s influence on hockey players, Joseph Boyden discusses the role in history and in modern day life where the war is still being unearthed by farmers, Tim Cook talks about the history and the war, and so much more and
3) From remembrance to politics to advertising war bonds to conscription to religion, McCrae’s poem has influenced Canadians and other countries for over a century and it’s amazing that this medical officer and solider wrote fifteen lines, shoved them into his pocket, and never got the chance to see the real influence his words made.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Quote: “The price of success is hard work,” read the words in the dressing room of the Toronto Maple Leafs. For the Philadelphia Flyers: “You play for the crest on the front, not the name on the back.” For the Boston Bruins: “We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” In Pittsburgh, the words of former Penguins coach Bob Johnson: “It’s a great day for hockey.” In Detroit: “To whom much is given, much is expected.”
In Montreal, first in the Forum and now in the Bell Centre, are John McCrae’s words from “In Flanders Fields”:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
#briereads #brierecommends #2024goodreadsreadingchallenge #reviewedongoodreads #reviewedoninstagram #bookworm #lovetoread #idratherbereading #nonfiction #history #canadianhistory #canadianauthors🇨🇦 #johnmccrae #inflandersfields
Reasons I Recommend:
1) In Flanders Fields is a poem that most of the western world would recognize either as something used to honour their soldiers or to talk about the Great War and John McCrae being Canadian makes it more sentimental to us Canucks
2) Ken Dryden talks about the poem’s influence on hockey players, Joseph Boyden discusses the role in history and in modern day life where the war is still being unearthed by farmers, Tim Cook talks about the history and the war, and so much more and
3) From remembrance to politics to advertising war bonds to conscription to religion, McCrae’s poem has influenced Canadians and other countries for over a century and it’s amazing that this medical officer and solider wrote fifteen lines, shoved them into his pocket, and never got the chance to see the real influence his words made.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Quote: “The price of success is hard work,” read the words in the dressing room of the Toronto Maple Leafs. For the Philadelphia Flyers: “You play for the crest on the front, not the name on the back.” For the Boston Bruins: “We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” In Pittsburgh, the words of former Penguins coach Bob Johnson: “It’s a great day for hockey.” In Detroit: “To whom much is given, much is expected.”
In Montreal, first in the Forum and now in the Bell Centre, are John McCrae’s words from “In Flanders Fields”:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
#briereads #brierecommends #2024goodreadsreadingchallenge #reviewedongoodreads #reviewedoninstagram #bookworm #lovetoread #idratherbereading #nonfiction #history #canadianhistory #canadianauthors🇨🇦 #johnmccrae #inflandersfields
November 24, 2024
beautiful collection of essays on war, loss and remembrance to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the writing of Canada's most famous poem.
In early 1915, the death of a young friend on the battlefields of Ypres inspired Canadian soldier, field surgeon and poet John McCrae to write "In Flanders Fields." Within months of the publication in December 1915 , it became part of the collective consciousness in North America and Europe, and what veterans has endured over the decades and across generations. In this anthology, Canada's finest historians, novelists and poets contemplate the evolving meaning of the poem; the man who wrote it and the World War I setting from which it emerged; its themes of valour, grief and remembrance; and the iconic image of the poppy imagery is shown from German defeat to Afghanistan attack Canadian army been through a tough time in a century.
13 main contributors wrote about emotional meaning of the poem for war veterans, rich and varied life of McCrae, mines the acts of witnessing and remembering, depiction of the adrenaline-fueled work of a WWI field surgeon, divisive effect during the 1917 federal election, how lines from the poem ended up on the wall of the Montreal Canadiens' dressing room, Remembrance Day from his childhood in a moving reflection on how war shapes us all. And mother's respect, 4 women who gave 28 sons to country. PTSD in veterans who been through Chlorine and other bombardment and last was painful that concious that let you live with ,in Afghanistan when they have to kill 14 years old just to save themselves from suicide bombers
In early 1915, the death of a young friend on the battlefields of Ypres inspired Canadian soldier, field surgeon and poet John McCrae to write "In Flanders Fields." Within months of the publication in December 1915 , it became part of the collective consciousness in North America and Europe, and what veterans has endured over the decades and across generations. In this anthology, Canada's finest historians, novelists and poets contemplate the evolving meaning of the poem; the man who wrote it and the World War I setting from which it emerged; its themes of valour, grief and remembrance; and the iconic image of the poppy imagery is shown from German defeat to Afghanistan attack Canadian army been through a tough time in a century.
13 main contributors wrote about emotional meaning of the poem for war veterans, rich and varied life of McCrae, mines the acts of witnessing and remembering, depiction of the adrenaline-fueled work of a WWI field surgeon, divisive effect during the 1917 federal election, how lines from the poem ended up on the wall of the Montreal Canadiens' dressing room, Remembrance Day from his childhood in a moving reflection on how war shapes us all. And mother's respect, 4 women who gave 28 sons to country. PTSD in veterans who been through Chlorine and other bombardment and last was painful that concious that let you live with ,in Afghanistan when they have to kill 14 years old just to save themselves from suicide bombers
November 15, 2021
I picked this up on Remembrance Day and was impressed by the various stories about WW1. The Germans released Gas! How can we ever forget? The tight quarters the war was fought in, the numbers dead. Add the Spanish Flu. The stories all mention John McCrae’s poem In Flanders Fields which was published in 1915. He was a Dr. Operating in the front and dying before the war ended. Canadian soldiers showed extreme valor and I am very proud of our country.
Germany. Two world wars. Over 100 million dead. I am such a hypocrite owning a German car. We can never forget.
Germany. Two world wars. Over 100 million dead. I am such a hypocrite owning a German car. We can never forget.
November 26, 2017
A really beautiful book, aesthetically-speaking. Lovely in its hard-cover version.
As for the pieces, most of them are illuminating takes on the First World War, although there are one too many informal McCrae bios; as good a writer as Ken Dryden is, his Montreal Canadiens torch piece is out of place.
At times great, at others an attempt to be too expansive and this repetitive.
As for the pieces, most of them are illuminating takes on the First World War, although there are one too many informal McCrae bios; as good a writer as Ken Dryden is, his Montreal Canadiens torch piece is out of place.
At times great, at others an attempt to be too expansive and this repetitive.
December 9, 2021
This book will take a knife, plunge it deep and twist until your assumptions about war and what it means to be Canadian are completely broken open. Well worth the effort. And the writing is absolutely outstanding.
October 28, 2020
The horrible war.
this book is the shocking reality.
Picture in this book are telling of the Horror .
The book is beautifully made.
this book is the shocking reality.
Picture in this book are telling of the Horror .
The book is beautifully made.
November 1, 2021
Haunting stories and essays on war, loss, remembrance, and the impact of the Great War still felt today.
January 24, 2023
Pleasant collection of essays.
November 4, 2023
4.5 stars, beautiful!
February 23, 2016
This is possibly the best book I've ever read. The collection of essays, short stories, poems and photographs in response to the famous "In Flanders Fields" poem by Lt. Col. John McRae is phenomenal, and while I didn't like all the works in the collection, each one had a part to play and contributed to the overall importance of the book. I've written updates after most of the chapters, so feel free to read back about my impressions about many individually, but the book overall provides a good glimpse into how Canadians are impacted by war, loss and the remembrance of war and loss.
McRae's poem is moving, no doubt about it. It is impactful far outside Canada's borders, having become an integral part of many nations' commemorations and psyches. It is important as well - and I believe that strongly - as it contains many meanings and interpretations. Though McRae's writing was meant to, among other things, create a non-specific call to arms and draw to patriotism and duty (one not fully comprehensible in today's post-First World War world), we often use it as a desperate cry for peace in a world that has seen violence. We use it to remember long-lost dead that we never knew just as much as we use it to remember brothers, sons, fathers, mothers, sisters, daughters and friends, living or dead, who experienced conflict. Or strangers. For the strangers, whether of our generation or another, are just as important and integral to the story and meaningfulness of "In Flanders Fields" as those we may have known.
I realize after reading this book that I, a self-professed history nut and once potential historian, knows very little of the topic I wrote my thesis on. Perhaps I can never know much more than facts and stories and maps, having never seen conflict myself. But even the context of McRae's poem, likely my first connection to war and history, is sadly limited. I'm sure most of my friends and family are the same. While war may be something we wish never existed, or would go away, or is something we simply feel uncomfortable discussing and admitting affects us or scares us, it is VITAL to our understanding of the world, of others, of peace. This book, in the same vein, is vital to our understanding of war. Though it plays a very small part in the very impressive and vast vast vast canon of war literature, "In Flanders Fields" and In Flanders Fields should be on every Canadian's reading list, shelf, and mind.
I also realize I might not be like many of my friends. I finished this book sitting next to my family's Christmas tree, listening to Christmas music, surrounded by family busy with sharing stories of the year past and all other things families get up to over the holidays. I chose to read a heartbreaking, challenging, and difficult collection of essays when I could be reading something nice, or easy, or not reading and enjoying time with family (which I have done and continue to do, regardless). But, this is my interest and I know it might not be for others. Nonetheless, it is an important book to read.
The topic is one hard to write about as often (and as many authors mentioned) words cannot be found to fully describe the emotions and impact war brings. I particularly liked Hannah Moskovitch's take on writing about war in the final chapter. She says "Once you think you've got hold of some truth about humans, war will show you the opposite, and beyond that, something more complex than the opposite. Studying humans in war will strip you of all your certainty, all your theses, all your analysis, and leave you trying to say something about our nature in mediums that suggest rather than denote: poetry, fiction, drama." I think this sums up McRae's poem quite well. Sometimes we spend our lives attempting to describe, understand, know our place, our lives, ourselves, and yet we cannot do more than write 15 lines of poetry (or whatever our chosen art form), suggesting something close to the experience we may have had, that perhaps no one else can identify with. This is also, to twist the poem slightly, our way of passing the torch. Like those before us who could not grasp the words or force others to understand, we too grasp at art or literature or straws to suggest and hold high our experience for others to attempt to understand and learn from and remember.
McRae's poem is moving, no doubt about it. It is impactful far outside Canada's borders, having become an integral part of many nations' commemorations and psyches. It is important as well - and I believe that strongly - as it contains many meanings and interpretations. Though McRae's writing was meant to, among other things, create a non-specific call to arms and draw to patriotism and duty (one not fully comprehensible in today's post-First World War world), we often use it as a desperate cry for peace in a world that has seen violence. We use it to remember long-lost dead that we never knew just as much as we use it to remember brothers, sons, fathers, mothers, sisters, daughters and friends, living or dead, who experienced conflict. Or strangers. For the strangers, whether of our generation or another, are just as important and integral to the story and meaningfulness of "In Flanders Fields" as those we may have known.
I realize after reading this book that I, a self-professed history nut and once potential historian, knows very little of the topic I wrote my thesis on. Perhaps I can never know much more than facts and stories and maps, having never seen conflict myself. But even the context of McRae's poem, likely my first connection to war and history, is sadly limited. I'm sure most of my friends and family are the same. While war may be something we wish never existed, or would go away, or is something we simply feel uncomfortable discussing and admitting affects us or scares us, it is VITAL to our understanding of the world, of others, of peace. This book, in the same vein, is vital to our understanding of war. Though it plays a very small part in the very impressive and vast vast vast canon of war literature, "In Flanders Fields" and In Flanders Fields should be on every Canadian's reading list, shelf, and mind.
I also realize I might not be like many of my friends. I finished this book sitting next to my family's Christmas tree, listening to Christmas music, surrounded by family busy with sharing stories of the year past and all other things families get up to over the holidays. I chose to read a heartbreaking, challenging, and difficult collection of essays when I could be reading something nice, or easy, or not reading and enjoying time with family (which I have done and continue to do, regardless). But, this is my interest and I know it might not be for others. Nonetheless, it is an important book to read.
The topic is one hard to write about as often (and as many authors mentioned) words cannot be found to fully describe the emotions and impact war brings. I particularly liked Hannah Moskovitch's take on writing about war in the final chapter. She says "Once you think you've got hold of some truth about humans, war will show you the opposite, and beyond that, something more complex than the opposite. Studying humans in war will strip you of all your certainty, all your theses, all your analysis, and leave you trying to say something about our nature in mediums that suggest rather than denote: poetry, fiction, drama." I think this sums up McRae's poem quite well. Sometimes we spend our lives attempting to describe, understand, know our place, our lives, ourselves, and yet we cannot do more than write 15 lines of poetry (or whatever our chosen art form), suggesting something close to the experience we may have had, that perhaps no one else can identify with. This is also, to twist the poem slightly, our way of passing the torch. Like those before us who could not grasp the words or force others to understand, we too grasp at art or literature or straws to suggest and hold high our experience for others to attempt to understand and learn from and remember.
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 dies
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
December 13, 2015
This book is a collection of assorted essays and one poem inspired by “In Flanders Fields”. Some of the essays focus more on this topic than others. I enjoyed the perspective of modern Canadian soldiers; Romeo Dallaire and Kevin Patterson. Tim Cook reveals the man behind the poem while Wade Davis describes the context in which it was created and the impact of the war on McCrae and other war time poets. I was intrigued by the very personal remembrances of fiction writers Patrick Lane and Frances Itani. Jonathan Vance talks about the far reaching impact and use of the poem in ways that I found shocking and summed up the feeling invoked by the content of this collection: “That fact that “In Flanders Fields” has long been politicized, commercialized and commodified does not compromise its powerful imagery and genuine sentiment. People continue to see it, one hopes, exactly as McCrae wrote it a century ago: as an ode to a generation who gave their best to preserve ideals that, to them, meant everything.”
January 26, 2016
A truly great collection reflecting on the the impact of McCrae's poem, "In Flanders Fields." This collection of essays discusses the importance of the poem to the remembrance of the Great War (now WW1), and how it transformed into so much more; representing WW2, and expanding across the English speaking globe. It became more than just piece of Canadian poetry - it is a symbol of remembrance, and why we must never forget. Each of the contributing authors provides a personal annecdote as to their connection with the poem, as well a light history of the Great War.
November 8, 2015
I really enjoyed it - I admit i'm not quite versed in WWI verse as i'd like to be (but hollywood tends to make WWII films, and there aren't any books that I know of about WWI) but I enjoyed it - enjoyed it so much that I watched a few documentaries about the Battle of the Somme while reading it. I've known the poem for years, as it's always read on Remembrance Day here in Canada, but definitely something to read if you want back story to the man, the poem and the WWI backstory
August 8, 2016
A truly magnificent collection of essays, meditations, and poetry that explores the impact of both WWI and the most famous & most assimilated war poem ever written. There were times when I actually felt chilled reading this incredible set of writings...and it left much to ruminate over once I was finished. The past is certainly still with us; after reading this book, you will have no doubt about this truism.
November 24, 2015
As with any compilation, some of the essays included are better than others. Janigan, Dryden, and Itani are all bright spots. But it is Wade Davis' piece that really shines. And the imagery cannot be beat in this book, what a collectors item.
January 31, 2016
You will never hear the poem in quite the same way after reading this book.
January 13, 2016
A MUST READ, whether you enjoy military history, maybe especially if you don't.
February 22, 2016
Some great perspectives on the poem, Dr McCrae, the First World War.
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