"For the Fallen" is a poem written byLaurence Binyon. It was first published inThe Times in September 1914. It was also published in Binyon's book "The Winnowing Fan : Poems On The Great War" by Elkin Mathews, London, 1914.

For the Fallen
byLaurence Binyon
"For the Fallen" inscription on the Stirling War Memorial in Scotland
First published in	The Times
Country	United Kingdom and the commonwealth
Subject(s)	Remembrance Day, war
Publication date	21 September 1914
Full text
The Times/1914/Arts/For the Fallen atWikisource

Over time, the third and fourthstanzas of the poem (usually now just the fourth) have been claimed as a tribute to allcasualties of war, regardless of state.^[1] This selection of the poem is often taken as anode that is often recited atRemembrance Day andANZAC Day services, and is what the term "Ode of Remembrance" usually refers to.^[2]

Laurence Binyon (10 August 1869 – 10 March 1943),^[3] a British poet, was described as having a "sober" response to theoutbreak of World War I, in contrast to the euphoria many others felt (although he signed the "Author's Declaration" that defended British involvement in the war, appearing inThe New York Times on 18 September with 54 other British authors—includingThomas Hardy,Arthur Conan Doyle, andH.G. Wells).A week after the war began in 1914, Binyon published his first war poem, "The Fourth of August" inThe Times.^[4][5][6]

On 23 August, in Britain's opening action of World War I on theWestern Front, theBritish Expeditionary Force (BEF) suffered a loss at theBattle of Mons and the subsequentlengthy retreat. The extent of fighting to follow was not revealed as casualties were comparable to past European wars.^[7][8] "For the Fallen" was specifically composed in honour of the casualties of the BEF, written immediately following the retreat from the Battle of Mons.^[9][8]

Binyon composed the original poem while sitting on the cliffs betweenPentire Point andThe Rumps in northCornwall,UK. A stone plaque was erected at the spot in 2001 to commemorate the fact. The plaque bears the inscription:^[9]

There is also a plaque on the East Cliff abovePortreath in central North Cornwall which cites that as the place where Binyon composed the poem.^[9] It was published inThe Times on 21 September 1914, just seven weeks after the beginning of the war.^[8]

The first stanza establishes a patriotic element. Binyon personifies the United Kingdom as a "mother," and British soldiers as its "children." The poem remembers the deaths of soldiers while justifying the cause of their deaths as "the cause of the free": a theme carried throughout the rest of the poem.^[10]

Themonosyllabic words of the second stanza echo "solemn, funereal drums."^[11] The stanza, like the first, espouses themes of "martial glorification." It describes war as "solemn," with a "music" and "glory" and compares death to "celestial music."^[10]

The third stanza refers to soldiers marching to fight in theBattle of the Marne. It is less known than the fourth,^[12] despite occasionally being recited on Remembrance Day.^[1] The soldiers are "straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow," and though facing "odds uncounted" are "staunch to the end."^[10]

The fourth stanza of the poem was written first,^[11] and includes the best known lines in the poem.^[13] The original words "grow not old" are sometimes quoted as "not grow old." It has also been suggested that the word "condemn" should be "contemn," however "condemn" was used when the poem was first printed inThe Times on 21 September 1914, and later in the anthologyThe Winnowing Fan: Poems of the Great War in 1914. If either publication had contained a misprint, Binyon had the chance to make an amendment. The issue has arisen in Australia, with little or no debate in otherCommonwealth countries that markRemembrance Day.^[14][15][16] The line commencing "Age shall not weary them" echoes (probably unconsciously) Enobarbus' description of Cleopatra inAntony and Cleopatra: "Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale".^[17]

In the fifth stanza, Binyon speaks of loss and mourns the deaths of soldiers who left behind "familiar tables" and "laughing comrades."^[18] In the sixth stanza, the soldiers are described as achieving a sort of "bodily transcendence" in their death.^[19] Finally, the seventh stanza compares dead soldiers to stars and constellations, that remain traces of being soldiers, moving in "marches". This memorializes the dead while keeping their role as soldiers for theBritish Empire present; "an empire that, by association with these eternal soldiers, makes its own claims on a sort of immortality. "^[19]

In his biography on Laurence Binyon, John Hatcher noted:^[8]

In its gravitas, its tenderness, and depth of grief, "For the Fallen" looks as if it should have appeared inThe Times of 21 September 1918 not 1914. It harmonizes with the tone neither ofThe Times war reports nor of other poems appearing at the time... While other early Great War poems sounded hollow when the true scale and nature of the war slowly permeated the national consciousness, this poem grew in stature with each defeat, each abortive push, and pyrrhic victory.

Hatcher concludes that "by 1918 it was an infinitely better poem than it had been in 1914."^[8] TheBritish Library said the poem "remains one of the most affecting and well-known elegies from the period."^[20]

The "Ode of Remembrance" is regularly recited at memorial services held on days commemorating theFirst World War, such asANZAC Day,Remembrance Day, andRemembrance Sunday. Recitations of the "Ode of Remembrance" are often followed by a playing of the "Last Post".

The ode is also read at theMenin Gate, every evening at 8 p.m., after the first part of the "Last Post". It is mostly read by a British serviceman. The recital is followed by a minute of silence. The Ode is also read by the members of theHMSHood Association at the end of every annual commemorative service held on 24 May each year, the anniversary of the sinking of HMSHood.

In 2018, atthe centennial of the signing ofthe Armistice, plans were made to ringcarillons and church bells across theCommonwealth at local sundown, in reference to the line, "at the going down of the sun... we will remember them." The bells were to be rung 100 times in recognition of the 100 years having passed.^[21][22]

A plaque on a statue dedicated to the fallen inLa Valletta, Malta, is also inscribed with these words.

InAustralia'sReturned and Services Leagues, and inNew Zealand'sReturned Services Associations, it is read out nightly at 6 p.m., followed by a minute's silence. It is also part of theDawn Service inAustralia andNew Zealand. Like the Menin Gate, theAustralian War Memorial incorporates the ode into its Last Post Ceremony, where it is read by a member of theAustralian Defence Force (ADF) and is followed by a minute of silence and a bugler playing the "Last Post".^{[citation needed]}

Typically, the "Ode of Remembrance" is recited inAustralia,New Zealand and thePacific Islands as follows:

New Zealanders echo the last line "We will remember them" whereas Australians typically respond both the last line and then with "Lest We Forget".^[24][25]

In Canadian remembrance services, a French translation is often used along with or instead of the English ode.^[26]

A quotation appears on theCalgary Soldiers' Memorial and on the cenotaph in Grandview Park,Vancouver,British Columbia.

A memorial inTeluk Intan commemorating the fallen of both the First and Second World Wars, which was installed during the colonial period in British-ruledMalaya, includes a few lines from the poem.

The line "Lest we forget", taken fromRudyard Kipling's poem"Recessional" (which incidentally has nothing to do with remembering the fallen in war), is often added as if were part of the ode and repeated in response by those listening, especially in Australia. SeveralBoer War memorials are inscribed with the phrase, showing its use pre-World War I. In the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Singapore, the final line of the ode, "We will remember them", is repeated in response. In Australia people respond with "We will remember them" followed by "Lest we forget".^[25][24] In Canada, the second stanza of the above extract has become known as the Act of Remembrance, and the final line is also repeated.^[27]

Sir Edward Elgar set to music three of Binyon's poems ("The Fourth of August", "To Women", and "For the Fallen", published within the collectionThe Winnowing Fan) asThe Spirit of England, Op. 80, for tenor or soprano solo, chorus, and orchestra (1917). His setting of "For the Fallen" sparked some controversy as it was published after another setting of the same poem by the composerCyril Rootham in 1915. Neither composer was responsible for this, and Elgar initially offered to withdraw but was persuaded to continue by the literary and art criticSidney Colvin and by Binyon himself.^[28] There is an eighth stanza in the version that was set to music by Elgar.^[29] An abridged version of Elgar's setting of "For the Fallen", called "With Proud Thanksgiving", was sung at the unveiling of the newCenotaph in Whitehall on 11 November 1920.^[30]

"They shall grow not old..." was set to music byDouglas Guest in 1971, and has become a well-known feature ofchoral services onRemembrance Sunday. Nottingham-based composer Alex Patterson also wrote a setting of the text in 2010.^[31] The text of "For the Fallen" has also been set byMark Blatchly for treble voices, organ and trumpet (which plays "The Last Post" in the background).^[32] In March 2015, a new musical setting was released by Gil Orms.^[33]

• The title of the novelTime of our Darkness, by South African authorStephen Gray, is a reference to the last two lines of the poem: "As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness, / To the end, to the end, they remain."
• Paul Bearer recited part of the poem as a tribute to wrestlerOwen Hart on 24 May 1999 at theRaw is Owen memorial, the night after he died in the ring.^{[citation needed]}
• The CD audiobookArtists Rifles (2004) includes a reading of "For the Fallen" by Binyon himself. The recording itself is undated and appeared on a78-rpm disc issued in Japan. Other Great War poets heard on the CD includeSiegfried Sassoon,Edmund Blunden,Robert Graves,David Jones, andEdgell Rickword.^[34]
• The song "Berliners", fromRoy Harper's 1990 albumOnce, uses the 4th stanza as its opening verse, preceded by a recording of a Remembrance Day ceremony where the same stanza was recited.^{[citation needed]}
• "...For Victory", a song fromthe eponymous album by British death metal bandBolt Thrower, contains a quote from Binyon's poem.^[35]
• In the closing scene of theDoctor Who episode titled "The Family of Blood", the vicar at aRemembrance Day ceremony reads "For the Fallen/Ode of Remembrance" to those who have gathered, including elderly survivors of the war.^[36][37]
• The title ofPeter Jackson's filmThey Shall Not Grow Old, produced to commemorate the 100th anniversary ofArmistice Day in 2018, perpetuates the common misquotation of Binyon's "They shall grow not old."

• For the Fallen (No. 3 inThe Spirit of England): Scores at theInternational Music Score Library Project

• Hatcher, John (1995)."For the Fallen".Laurence Binyon: Poet, Scholar of East and West. Oxford UP. pp. 188–211.ISBN 9780198122968.
• Moffett, Alex (2007).""We Will Remember Them": The Poetic Rewritings of Lutyens' Cenotaph 1"(PDF).War, Literature & the Arts.12:228–246. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 2 February 2019. Retrieved2 February 2019.
• Moore, Jerrold N. (1984).Edward Elgar: a Creative Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN 0-19-315447-1.

• Audiobook CD featuring reading of "Ode" by Binyon
• Manuscript copy of "For the Fallen" at the British Library