For November / May · 3poems & readings
Remembrance & Memorial Poems
In Flanders fields and after: the poems read at remembrance services and gravesides, honouring those who served — and short readings for a headstone or an order of service.
Remembrance readings have a settled repertoire, and it exists because these poems were built to be spoken aloud to a crowd standing outdoors. John McCrae's 'In Flanders Fields' is the centrepiece — written in 1915 by a Canadian medical officer, it is the reason the poppy means what it means, and it hands the duty of remembering directly to the listener.
For a graveside, a headstone, or a short order of service, three shorter pieces do more work than a long one. Christina Rossetti's 'Remember' gives permission to grieve and then to stop grieving, which is often the kindest thing a reading can do. Stevenson's 'Requiem' is eight lines and supplies its own epitaph — "Home is the sailor, home from sea." Whitman's 'O Captain! My Captain!' suits a service for someone who led. Read slowly, and print the text for people to follow; grief makes listening hard.
In Flanders Fields
John McCrae · 1915
15 lines · rondeau
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Alfred, Lord Tennyson · 1854
55 lines · narrative
An Irish Airman Foresees His Death
W. B. Yeats · 1919
16 lines · lyric
Common questions
What poem is read on Remembrance Day?
'In Flanders Fields' by John McCrae (1915) is the standard reading at remembrance services, and the source of the poppy as a symbol of the war dead.
What is a good short poem for a memorial or funeral?
Stevenson's 'Requiem' is eight lines and works as an epitaph. Christina Rossetti's 'Remember' is a sonnet that gives the living permission to move on, which many families find easier to hear.