In the poem "In Flanders Field" by John McCrae, what can be seen and what images or sounds can help us understand the poem?It's a poem by John...

One of the first poems that were affected by the theme of wars is "In Flanders Fields" by John MacRae

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.

'Flanders is a region of Europe covering neighboring parts of Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Its chief cities are Ghent and Bruges, and its inhabitants have their own language, Flemish, as well as either French or Dutch. Fierce battles were fought on this territory - much of it farmland - in the First World War, including the three battles of Ypres (Ieper in Flemish) in which many thousands died.

John McRae's commanding officer records that 'this poem was born of fire and blood during the hottest phase of the second battle of Ypres'. This battle began on April 22 1915 and lasted 17 days. Total casualties have been estimated at 100,000 on either side. Half the Canadian brigade to which John McRae was attached were killed. Shortly afterwards a profoundly weary McRae was posted away from the front line, to a hospital in Boulogne. Friends were worried by the change in him. He worked at the hospital until January 1918, and was about to take up a post with the British army. But he fell ill with double pneumonia and meningitis, and died on January 28.

At this poem the poet reveals that the poem is not a simple expression. What he has written is a dramatic speech spoken by the voices of 'the Dead'  soldiers buried in a war cemetery behind the front line. The Dead's memories are of sunrise and sunset, love and friendship, not of their violent and terrible deaths   nor of the killings they had committed before they died. Yet it is killing they have in mind.

Nowadays the last stanza is often left out, because of its violence. The Dead want their deaths to be justified by the war: "more men must kill and die" . Without this, the Dead  'shall not sleep'  and that 'shall' has the force of a judgment.