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by John McCrae, May 1915

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.

Inspiration for "In Flanders Fields"

During the early days of the Second Battle of Ypres a young Canadian artillery officer, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, was killed on 2 May, 1915 in the gun positions near Ypres. An exploding German artillery shell landed near him. He was serving in the same Canadian artillery unit as a friend of his, the Canadian military doctor and artillery commander Major John McCrae.

As the brigade doctor, John McCrae was asked to conduct the burial service for Alexis because the chaplain had been called away somewhere else on duty that evening. It is believed that later that evening, after the burial, John began the draft for his now famous poem "In Flanders Fields".

For the story behind the inspiration for "In Flanders Fields", see our page at:

Inspiration for In Flanders Fields

Related Topics

The Story Behind the Remembrance Poppy

Also known as "The Poppy Lady" find out how this poem inspired the American teacher, Moina Belle Michael, to write a poem in response to "In Flanders Fields". Discover how she and Frenchwoman Madame Anna Guérin, known as "The French Poppy Lady", encouraged people to use the red Flanders poppy as a way of remembering those who had suffered in war, and how the Flanders Poppy became the symbol of remembrance that we know so well today:

The Story Behind the Remembrance Poppy

Essex Farm Advanced Dressing Station, Ypres

Find out more about the battlefield location where the poem is believed to have been composed on the evening of 2 May 1915.
Essex Farm Advanced Dressing Station, Ypres Salient
Related Reading

In Flanders Fields

by Linda Granfield

The story of John McCrae's World War I poem interweaves the poet's words with information about the war, details of daily life in the trenches, accounts of McCrae's experience in his field hospital, and the circumstances that contributed to the poem's creation.

A Crown of Life - The World of John McCrae

by Dianne Graves

The words of John McCrae, a soldier, doctor and poet, are called to mind every year on 11 November. It was his poem, In Flanders Fields, that was the inspiration for the poppy as a symbol of remembrance. This book charts the story of his life.

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by John McCrae, May 1915 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.

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Developing the Organization to Support Desired Practices - Equity and Inclusive Education

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PQP - Financial Literacy Presentation Nov 2017

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PPM 119

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Planting the Seeds

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Interesting article on Grade11 English including Native authors

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Interesting article on Grade11 English including Native authors

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When parents in Ontario's Lambton Kent District School Board learned the mandatory Grade 11 English course was being replaced with an indigenous literature course, their responses often invoked that 500-year-old icon whose shadow still falls over all English writing.

"So my kid doesn't have to study Shakespeare?" was the common reply, said superintendent of education Mark Sherman.

As of this September, for those in Grade 11 at least, the answer is no. Instead, they will be reading and studying novels such as Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese, Medicine River by Thomas King, My Name is Seepeetza by Shirley Sterling, or As Long as the Rivers Flow by former Ontario Lieutenant-Governor James Bartleman.

This indigenous turn of a high school curriculum is an abrupt departure from the Canadian high school standard of mainly studying literature from the two great cultures against which Canadian-ness is traditionally triangulated - Britain and America.

"Hey, I love Lord of the Flies. I love Shakespeare," Sherman said. "But really, we're talking about 15th century Veronese landlords (Romeo and Juliet) or something like that. Does that resonate with Canadian kids? Or the British schoolboy class structure?"

Modern plays in the high school rotation are likewise dominated by New York playwrights like Arthur Miller, to the exclusion of indigenous Canadians like Tomson Highway.

Students will still have the chance to study The Catcher in the Rye and King Lear, for example, in the other four compulsory English courses over their time in high school. "This is just taking a part of it and trying to make it more relevant to the modern Canadian student," Sherman said.

Until now, the board has offered optional native studies courses in Grade 11, focused on history and culture more than literature. Some schools have also occasionally run native-focused Grade 11 literature courses, including several pilot programs designed to test this new curriculum shift. When it comes into effect in September, it will make an indigenous literature course a constant part of every student's education.

"It has all the same curriculum expectations as any senior English course would have," Sherman said. It involves writing, reading, presentation, dialogue, construction of arguments, topic choice, all set up in a way that recognizes and respects the sophistication of the curious teenage mind.

He pointed out two current failings of the traditional Shakespeare and Salinger approach in his board, which serves four First Nations communities as well as the regions of Sarnia and Chatham-Kent. Not only do indigenous students not see their culture reflected in their curriculum, and become disengaged as a result, but non-indigenous students are not made to engage scholastically with First Nations until late in the educational game. As a result, they can lack an important Canadian perspective.

"We should start building perspective earlier," Sherman said. "In a senior level English course, they have a very high level of moral reasoning and dialogue."

There is also a financial incentive, in that the board gets more funding for offering courses on indigenous topics, money that Sherman said has been used for professional development for teachers, many of whom are not indigenous themselves, and to hire a special projects teacher for indigenous studies.

As he describes it, parents and students could not be happier.

"It's really taken off," Sherman said. "Normally with any big change you expect some discontent. There has been negligible negative feedback. I think today's students, they see things in the media, they want to know more about it, so now it's just part of the natural course to say 'Hey, we have some brilliant indigenous writers out there. This was created in Canada. This wasn't written 100 years ago in Leeds.'"
* Email: jbrean@postmedia.com | Twitter: JosephBrean

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Ontario school board tosses Shakespeare for indigenous writers

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When parents in Ontario's Lambton Kent District School Board learned the mandatory Grade 11 English course was being replaced with an indigenous literature course, their responses often invoked that 500-year-old icon whose shadow still falls over all English writing. "So my kid doesn't have to study Shakespeare?"

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https://www.google.com/url?q=http://fortune.com/worlds-greatest-leaders/&sa=D&ust=1510427117078000&usg=AFQjCNGloFmUDpF3nBmWLJ7TUwOXqtW7rQ

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The Role of the Principal in Staff Development