ANALYSING POETRYFor the FallenBY Laurence Binyon Laurence Binyon wrote one of the best known and most frequently recited verses of the First World War. Across the world, and particularly the Commonwealth, the central stanza of his poem For the Fallen is regularly used to proclaim and affirm the resolve of nations and communities neither to forget nor overlook the effort and sacrifice of the First World War generation, as well as their successors in later wars and conflicts.Yet few remember who wrote the words.
The poem’s smooth, rhythmic flow and formal, elegant language, embody the profound sense of respect, admiration and grief that hangs over modern acts of collective remembrance. Yet the poem was not written by a soldier who had seen action but by a civilian less than a month after the start of the fighting.His best poetry, though written after the war, employed the diction traditional in the prewar years. Collected Poems appeared in 1931. He was also concerned with the revival of verse drama; his works in that form included Attila (1907), Arthur (1923), and The Young King(1934).
His verse translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy was published in three parts in 1933, 1938, and 1943.In poem For the Fallen poet knew that the young, fit soldiers he was writing about would not come home. But he had little to say about what really happened to them. He painted war as something vague and abstract, but grand and noble, giving young men a chance to show how brave and selfless they could be. In real war that means showing what effective killers they are, too, but the poet did not mention that, except to say they were eager to fight. The drums of war thrill’, he said, and fighting is a fine way to die. War, for him, has its own music, its own glory’.Very much an idealised, propaganda view of war in that death as a soldier is a glorious thing, and almost as if it is an honour, to die for your country. At the time of this poem being written anti-war sentiment would not have been widely acknowledged or publicised so it is fitting for its time.Fallen Themes:Religion, Loss, Memory and Dreams, Southern Charm and Southern Gothic, Light and Shadow, Reincarnation,Food and Temptation,Loneliness and Friendship.Very much an idealised, propaganda view of war in that death as a soldier is a glorious thing, and almost as if it is an honour, to die for your country. At the time of this poem being written anti-war sentiment would not have been widely acknowledged or publicised so it is fitting for its time.The tone of the poetic voice’: Proud, Respectful, Remembrance!Similes and metaphors Mother ” metaphor for how close we feel as a nation. Personification of Night ” death, the eternal sleep.With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,England mourns for her dead across the sea.Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,Fallen in the cause of the free.In the opening stanza, the speaker metaphorically compares England to a mother who is in mourning for her children who have died. England’s literal children are, of course, her soldiers who have bravely fought and given their lives “in the cause of the free.”They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;They sit no more at familiar tables of home;They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;They sleep beyond England’s foam.In the fifth stanza, the speaker mourns as he details the activities that are now proscribed the fallen heroes: they will not laugh with their friends again nor share meals with family, nor will they hold day jobs”all because they metaphorically “sleep beyond England’s foam.”Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royalSings sorrow up into immortal spheres.There is music in the midst of desolationAnd a glory that shines upon our tears.The speaker portrays the profound sorrow of the mourners, emphasizing its significance as he creates his tribute: “Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal / Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.” Sadness of the heart on the earthly level may be transcended if, “There is music in the midst of desolation / And a glory that shines upon our tears.”Binyon starts the poem by likening Britain to a mother of all the soldiers who have passed away overseas in the war effort. He does however say that she is giving thanks that her children have died in such a honourable way. This gives us a strong picture of Britain being a mother and mourning over her dead children, as a real mother would grieve. He states that she is mourning because she has lost a part of herself when he writes “Flesh of her Flesh they were, spirit of her spirit, Fallen in the cause of the free.” This also shows he truly believes that each and every life lost was important and should be thought of and praised. The author uses alliteration of the words ‘Flesh’ and ‘Spirit’. In the second stanza he speaks of grief and desolation and also how there is music even in this kind of situation, which would usually be paired with pain and not such a happy thing such as music. He also speaks of the patriotism and how proud we should be of all these men; he speaks of how they have died a magnificent and majestic death, we get this impression when he writes “Death august and royal”