For the Fallen
Laurence Binyon’s poem was first published in The Times on 21 September 1914. It was written in honour of the casualties of the BEF following the Battle of Mons. The poem is often taken as an ode that is often recited at Remembrance Day services.
About For the Fallen in brief
Laurence Binyon’s poem was first published in The Times on 21 September 1914. It was written in honour of the casualties of the BEF following the Battle of Mons. The poem is often taken as an ode that is often recited at Remembrance Day services. It has also been suggested that the word ‘condemn’ should be removed from the poem. The original words are sometimes quoted as old, but they are in fact just the fourth stanza of the poem, which is the best known. The fifth and sixth stanzas have also been claimed as a tribute to all casualties of war, regardless of state. It is not known whether the poem will ever be published in Australia or any other Commonwealth country, with little debate over whether it should be printed there or in any other country. The first stanza establishes a patriotic element and personifies the United Kingdom as a’mother’ and British soldiers as its ‘children’ The second stanza espouses themes of’martial glorification’ and compares death to ‘celestial music’ The poem was written while sitting on the cliffs between Pentire Point and The Rumps in north Cornwall, UK.
A stone plaque was erected at the spot in 2001 to commemorate the fact. There is also a plaque on the East Cliff above Portreath in central North Cornwall which cites that as the place where the poem was composed. If the original publication had contained a misprint, either Biny on had the chance to make an amendment to the poem either in either issue of The Times or in the anthology The Winnowing Fan: The Great Poems of the Great War of 1914-1918. If this had happened, the poem would not have been published in both issues of The New York Times and The Times, and it would have been withdrawn from the anthology. The final stanza includes the words: ‘They went with songs to the battle, they were young,Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow. They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted’
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This page is based on the article For the Fallen published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 07, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
