Truemors
A brightly shining red poppy still life is standing out in contrast to a solarized evening sky filled up with shadowy symbols of the Industrial Revolution: A huge pylon decked with three power lines, a GDR-chimney, a double-barrelled street lamp and the gas main pipeline from Russia.
In its small area of DOF the macro landscape contains three hairy poppy stalks. One of these stems has hanging down a green seed capsule whose shape reminds of an unblown WWI hand grenade:
----► In Flanders Fields @warmuseum.ca
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.
Author:John McCrae (1872-1918): poet, surgeon, soldier
A native of Guelph, Ontario, and a veteran of the South African War (1899-1902), John McCrae began the First World War as a surgeon attached to the 1st Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery, 1st Canadian Division. After undergoing a baptism by fire at Neuve Chapelle, France, in March 1915, the Canadians moved to Flanders in mid-April, taking up position in the salient around the Belgian town of Ypres.
On April 22-23, in their first major battle, they distinguished themselves by holding out against the first German gas attack of the war while others around them fled. John McCrae was the officer in charge of a medical aid post in a dugout cut into the bank of the Yser canal, a few miles to the northeast of Ypres. Here, on May 2, McCrae's good friend, 22-year old Lieutenant Alexis Helmer of Ottawa, was blown apart by enemy artillery fire. With the parts of Helmer's body collected in a blanket, McCrae himself read the funeral service.
The next day, McCrae, who had been publishing poetry for many years, completed In Flanders Fields. Eyewitness accounts vary in detail, but agree that he worked on the poem while sitting on the back step of an ambulance near his medical aid post. In the field around him crosses marked the graves of dead soldiers, including those of Helmer and other Canadians killed the previous day. Accounts also agree that poppies grew in the area at the time and McCrae's own notes refer to birds singing despite the noise of battle.
John McCrae set the poem aside to concentrate on caring for the wounded at Ypres. He took it up again that fall after leaving the Ypres salient to serve in the relatively quieter circumstances of No. 3 Canadian General Hospital at Boulogne. When at last he had worked it to a satisfactory state he sent it to the British publication the Spectator, only to see his work rejected. He resubmitted it to Punch magazine, which published it anonymously, in its issue of December 8, 1915. [warmuseum.ca]
YouTube-Clips
----►In Flanders Fields with images and heroic music (Gods and Generals soundtrack by John Frizzel and Randy Edelman & The Man In The Iron Mask soundtrack by Nick Glennie-Smith)
----►Green Fields of France - antiheroic WW1 Memorial by John Mc.Dermott
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Red poppy, Field Poppy, Flanders Poppy, or Corn Poppy is the wild poppy of agricultural cultivation—Papaver rhoeas. It is a variable annual plant. The four petals are vivid red, most commonly with a black spot at their base. In the northern hemisphere it generally flowers in late spring, but if the weather is warm enough other flowers frequently appear at the beginning of autumn ...
It is known to have been associated with agriculture in the Old World since early times. It has most of the characteristics of a successful weed of agriculture. These include an annual lifecycle that fits into that of most cereals, a tolerance of simple weed control methods, the ability to flower and seed itself before the crop is harvested. Like many such weeds, it also shows the tendency to become a crop in its own right; its seed is a moderately useful commodity, and its flower is edible. ....
It has had an old symbolism and association with agricultural fertility.
It has become associated with wartime remembrance in the 20th century, especially during Remembrance Day in Commonwealth countries. As poppies bloomed in much of the western front in World War I, poppies are a symbol of military veterans, especially of that war.Klatschmohn (Papaver rhoeas), auch Mohnblume oder Klatschrose genannt, eine Pflanzenart aus der Familie der Mohngewächse (Papaveraceae). ... Er ist ein Altbürger (Archäophyt) und seit dem Neolithikum Kulturbegleiter. Durch übermäßigen Herbizideinsatz ist er in Getreidefeldern oft sehr zurückgegangen, tritt aber dafür oft in Mengen z. B. an ungespritzten, offenerdigen Straßenböschungen auf.
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NODE - Entries [remembrance]
Remembrance Day ('Gedenktag') ►noun
✪ another term for Remembrance Sunday
✪✪ [historical] another term for Armistice Day
✪Remembrance Sunday►noun (in the UK) the Sunday nearest 11 November when those who were killed in the first and second World Wars and later conflicts are commemorated. Also called Poppy Day.
✪✪Armistice Day►noun the anniversary of the armistice of 11 November 1918, now replaced by Remembrance Sunday in the UK and Veterans Day in the US.
NODE - Entries [poppy]
poppy¹ a herbaceous plant with showy flowers, milky sap, and rounded seed capsules. Many poppies contain alcaloids and are a source of drugs such as morphine and codeine.
poppy head►noun the seed capsule of a poppy
Poppy Day►noun Brit. another name for Remembrance Sunday
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poppycock►noun [mass noun] [informal] nonsense (--->: dutch pappekak | german Papperlapapp)
poppy² ►adjective (of popular music) tuneful and immediately appealing:catchy, poppy tunes.
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