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.
Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.
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;
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
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.
But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;
As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.
Notes
During September-October 1939 throughout ten Allied countries, and upon the suggestion of FIDAC (Inter-allied Federation of Ex-Servicemen), the 25th anniversary of Laurence Binyon's "For the Fallen", was observed.
This is one of the most famous and enduring war poems, and it was written at an historic moment … just after the retreat from Mons and the victory of the Marne.
As to how it came to be written, Laurence Binyon, who celebrated his 70th anniversary on 10 August 1939, says: "I can't recall the exact date beyond that it was shortly after the retreat. I was set down, out of doors, on a cliff in Polzeath, Cornwall. The stanza "They Shall Grow Not Old" was written first and dictated the rhythmical movement of the whole poem."
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From guest Dr. William R. Kenny (contact)
This is the poem, especially the 2nd and 3rd. stanzas, that was almost always read on the 11th hour of the 11 day of the 11th month at school when I was a boy. I can still hear it's measured cadences. It was also read in Gaelic then. -
re; barry hodges
From guest allie (contact)
the poem was written as you said earlier in the war
but it was after many of the lives were lost and it was in remembrance of them. at the time of course people believed it was the right thing to do.. it was still early and people were still signing up quite willingly and yet the piece is still a reflection of those that died.
oh and he was too old to fight and yet still served on the western front.
please do some further research before slandering people.
as an addition to your worthy comment allie and to help others from making the same mistake about Binyon:
"By the 21st September 1914, when England was already suffering appalling casualties in France and Belgium, the Times Newspaper published Binyon's poem, 'The Fallen'. Binyon had written it in despair over the mounting casualty figures. The poem became widely popular in England and also in Australia and New Zealand.
Binyon wrote the poem while he was employed at the British Museum, it would not be until later, in 1916, that Binyon would finally go to the Western Front to serve as a hospital orderly and witness the carnage personally.
Binyon returned from the war and it horrors to work once again for the British Museum, he died in 1943.
Von - Oldpoetry team -
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Afghanistan Now
From guest JD Southall (contact)
This poem is so fitting of the ones that did not make it in both Iraq and Afghanistan. -
Few people realise what this poem is actually about. It is actually quite a gung-ho piece and was written at the very beginning of WW1 in 1914 (probably only a few weeks after it started) and is a paean of praise to battle, bravery and fighting, saying how wonderful it is for men to die for their country. It is NOT a tragic observation on the wasted millions of young men's lives sacrificed by greed and patriotic fervour. It is actually a very repellent piece of writing, written by someone who never fought in war. How ironic that one stanza is now used as a sad remembrance of the millions slaughtered.
And the dispute about condemn/contemn is silly. In all published versions of the poem (including those authorised by Binyon) he uses "condemn". So there. -
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for Greg CAve
This subject has been discussed over and over since this poem was posted some years ago.
The correct word is as printed here - 'condemn' [ to declare to be reprehensible, wrong, or evil usually after weighing evidence and without reservation]
I attended an Anzac Day service yesterday. The 'Ode' was read from a book of Binyons' poetry - The Squadron Leader reciting the Ode never faltered on one word of this particular stanza.
There are quite a few opinions on previous comments too if you might like to look.
Regards, Von ~ Oldpoetry
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I cannot say how many times I have heard and even spoke those lines "They shall not grow old . . . " and yet this is the first time I have read the poem in its entirety. The while poem deserves to be equally well known.
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For the Fallen
From guest Hugh Wyles (contact)
Readers might be interested to know that from a series of poems entitled "The Winnowing Fan", written by Laurence Binyon and published in The Times, Edward Elgar chose three: The Fourth of August; To Women; For the Fallen; which he set to music for Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra under the collective title: "The Spirit of England" as his Opus 80. They are all fine poems and I wonder where other poems of "The Winnowing Fan" may be found nowadays. -
briggensian
From guest r bryant (contact)
Just a correction to the earlier comment. The Briggensian is not a military magazine, it was the magazine of Brigg Grammer School. -
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briggensian
Someone correct the spelling of Grammar in this guest post, lest the Old Briggensians get upset!
MOD MESSAGE
It is not our policy to correct a comment for grammar, punctuation, typos or anything else. If it is relevant and intelligible and not abusive, vulgar or profane it is usually left untouched. If it is not it is deleted.
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I wonder how many times throughout the time zones of the world this 4th stanza will be recited on 11th November. Already in Australia remberance services across the country have been almost finalised for the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day. Though placed as the 4th stanza, it was written first and then the whole poem was built around it - we should never forget!
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Doneraile
From guest John de Montfort (contact)
My son, Freddie, read the fourth verse last Sunday at our local church in Doneraile, Co Cork. We remembered all servicemen, particularly Irishmen, who died while serving. -
at the going down of the sun...
From guest JO (contact)
As a child I remember this as... At the going down of the sun and the rising of the same... Not ....and in the morning. But can't find that version written anywhere. Am I mistaken?? -
From guest Grace (contact)
who is the intended audience for this poem?
(The poem was composed during World War 1; consider reviewing other comments - MOD) -
paragraph 4
From guest Tamar (contact)
my name is tamar and i go to a school in randwick sydney, i am in a choir at school and we are singing the 4th paragraph of the poem for anzac day this year, this song/poem hs inspiried me to learn about the anzac day war and really feel the sorrow for the fallen. -
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I have just found an interesting article by the Australian Dept of Veterans' Affairs on the origins of this poem. It reads thus:
"DVA’s Commemorations Branch has been researching the poem and its background. The lines comprise the fourth stanza of the poem For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon, and were written in the bleak early days of World War 1. By mid-September 1914, less than seven weeks after the outbreak of war, the British Expeditionary Force in France had already suffered severe casualties. During this time, long lists of the dead and wounded appeared in British newspapers. It was against this background that Binyon, then the Assistant Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, wrote For the Fallen. This poem was first published in The Times on 21 September 1914."
So there is irrefutable evidence that this WAS written after the first Allied troops' retreat, highly likely after the first Battle of the Marne (6 - 10 September 1914). -
An outstanding piece of poetry.
I disagree that this can be seen as the glorification of war. It is, quite simply, a well-earned tribute to those who gave their country the ultimate sacrifice of love - laying down their lives for it. How many of us, who have responded to this poem, would be prepared to do the same thing, considering the knowledge of almost certain death the men Binyon writes about would have had? I know I wouldn't - and yet, because of them, I am here today. I do agree that the fourth stanza, as a stand alone piece, is just phenomenal. For our tomorrow, they gave their today. -
If the forth stanza had been the only one written,then that would have been a beautiful piece in its own right.
Though I think that there is much more to this one than just the one stanza.Sadly I believe that few apart from the true lover of war poetry would read or even notice how good the whole poem is.as that one stanza has overtaken the rest of the work. Having said that I can not think of another passage of poetry that would stand out so clearly as a tribute to those fallen. -
To Guest:
I cannot believe that this poem was written to glorify War. Binyon was in fact a Quaker pacifist and had already lost a close friend in the early months of WW1 - so glorification No! I don't think so.
Von
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Excellent poem
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It's such a shame that a beautiful poem was written about a very unbeautiful thing such as war. Ah, I dream of a day when poets would have to write about fictional wars or wars of words not physical battles and death.
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Geoff - brilliant work - damn good show, Watson. I really appreciate your research. Now I won't need to admonish the old soldiers in my RSL for using the word 'condemn'. Thank you for that info. and your other relevant observations. Regards, Bob Clinch
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The word "contemn" is not mentioned in the poem as published in the Times (The Times,Monday, Sep 21,1914; pg 9, Issue 40642; col C ). The word is clearly "condemn" and the text is as written above, without the howler indicated.
It is there in a box to itself in the middle of the foot of the page; there is no accompanying text other than it being listed in the newspaper index. Bear in mind that it is still somewhat prominent as pages 1 and 2 are the personal columns, as devoured by Sherlock Holmes, page 3 covering war dead and casualties. Page 9 covers important war news of the day as well as the poem.
I'll look a bit further for more information this week, for those interested.
Regards, Geoff Evans. Penshaw -
Well done Geoff Evans. Now . . . about that word contemn ...?
Regards
Bob Clinch -
To WriteOfSpring. Good day. I am a member of the Returned Services League (RSL) of Australia. On every ANZAC Day, and in fact, every RSL meeting or RSL social event which I attend, the fourth stanza is always recited, followed by "Lest we Forget". I have no problem with, nor comment on your statement. Since you are in the UK, you might be able to access the Times publication of 21 September 1914 and let us all know if the word at the end of the second line was originally 'contemn' or 'condemn'. Regards
Bob Clinch, Queensland, Australia -
This is probably the most famous of all WWI poems and stanza 4 is always read out at Remembrance Day services in the UK, and of course at D-Day commemorations etc.; its use nowadays is calculated to bring a lump to the throat and a tear to the eye. This was never its intention.
As a previous writer pointed out, the key thing is: it was written AT THE BEGINNING of the war. It was never meant to be a condemnation of war; in fact it was written as a GLORIFICATION of war, praising the coming sacrifices which the brave young men would proudly make and is actually sickeningly romantic and sentimental. The writer (together with most of Europe) hadn't imagined what was to come, the slaughter, the useless waste of life, the hypocrisy of it all. The irony of using the poem as it is now used is truly astonishing. -
Re the word "contemn". Has anyone actually looked up the first publication in The Times? If so would you let us know if the word was 'condemn' or 'contemn'. I would hope it is 'contemn'.
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Yes, I have seen it written "contemn" and think it is a much more appropriate word. I suppose we need to look up the first publication in The Times to get some indication which word was actually written by Binyon
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reply to Michelle - I think the time at which this poem was written makes it all the more poignant - particularly as the 4th stanza is widely used at commemorative services in many parts of the world.
Edited on Nov 28, 10:56 p.m. because ''. -
Excellent
I would just like to point out that the poem was actually written in September 1914 when the Great War was just 7 weeks old -
After having checked with various different sources the word condemn is correct.
Edited on Oct 25, 10:30 p.m. because ''. -
useful site
i have looked at many copies of this poem and all of them say condemn so i was wondering mhy Barry says it should be 'contemn' (though that would make sense too). -
I like your site.
In Binyon's peom the fallen line two verse four should finish with the word "contemn" which has a much more profound meaning than "condemn". You might like to check it out and amend your wording.
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