Background
John McCrae was born at Guelph, Ontario, Canada on November 30, 1872.
("In Flanders Fields" is a war poem in the form of a ronde...)
"In Flanders Fields" is a war poem in the form of a rondeau, written during the First World War by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae. He was inspired to write it on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend and fellow soldier Alexis Helmer, who died in the Second Battle of Ypres. According to legend, fellow soldiers retrieved the poem after McCrae, initially dissatisfied with his work, discarded it. "In Flanders Fields" was first published on December 8 of that year in the London-based magazine Punch. It is one of the most popular and most quoted poems from the war. As a result of its immediate popularity, parts of the poem were used in propaganda efforts and appeals to recruit soldiers and raise money selling war bonds. Its references to the red poppies that grew over the graves of fallen soldiers resulted in the remembrance poppy becoming one of the world's most recognized memorial symbols for soldiers who have died in conflict. The poem and poppy are prominent Remembrance Day symbols throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, particularly in Canada, where "In Flanders Fields" is one of the nation's best-known literary works. The poem also has wide exposure in the United States, where it is associated with Memorial Day.
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military physician author poet
John McCrae was born at Guelph, Ontario, Canada on November 30, 1872.
He received his education at the University of Toronto, obtaining his medical degree in 1898.
In 1900 McCrae was appointed a fellow in pathology at McGill University, Montreal. He later also served as physician at the Alexandra Hospital and the Royal Victoria Hospital. In 1914 he enlisted in the medical corps of the Canadian army.
He served at the front till after the second battle of Ypres and was then placed in charge of medicine at a hospital unit at Boulogne, where he remained until his death on January 28, 1918, of pneumonia. He had attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel.
McCrae's poem "In Flanders Fields" appeared anonymously in the English magazine Punch in 1915. His collected works, In Flanders Fields, and Other Poems (1919), were published posthumously.
("In Flanders Fields" is a war poem in the form of a ronde...)