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[felis_ultharus]

I know, I post this every year. But I think it's a more honest poem than "In Flanders Fields" - more reflective of what it felt like for a farmboy to be dragged by conscription from his home and everything he knew, and tossed into the meatgrinder of World War I

Comments

[seal7]

Wait, you post this every year? I don't remember ever having read this before...

[felis_ultharus]

I did in 2008, and I was sure I'd done it in 2009 as well. But when I checked, it was only 2008. Strange.

Anyway, in Canada, the traditional poem for this day is "In Flanders Fields". Children memorise it. A line of it is on our ten-dollar bill. Because of that poem, we all wear plastic poppies this time of year. In this electronic age, Canadians repost it all over the Internet.

And it's a beautiful poem. And I can understand it, and understand the feeling behind it. But I think Wilfred Owen - a gay British soldier who died on the front lines - probably caught the essence of the war more accurately than John McCrae did in "Flanders Fields."

I mean, not that I can know for sure, obviously. But that's my guess.

But I don't think Canada's going to put "Anthem for Doomed Youth" on the ten-dollar bill anytime soon :)

[infinitecomplex]

I agree completely.

[felis_ultharus]

"In Flanders Fields" is a beautiful poem. And I think they revoke your citizenship if you dislike, even if you're born here :p

But when I read Owen, I have a sense that it's more honest. I think Owen spent more time on the front lines than McCrae did. He probably saw moew friends die, too.