For The Fallen & Other Poems
By Laurence Binyon
Published by Hodder & Stoughton: London c1917 (undated)
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"For the Fallen" is a poem written by Laurence Binyon. It was first published in The Times in September 1914.
Over time, the third and fourth stanzas of the poem (usually now just the fourth) have been claimed as a tribute to all casualties of war, regardless of state. This selection of the poem is often taken as an ode that is often recited at Remembrance Day and ANZAC Day services, and is what the term "Ode of Remembrance" usually refers to."
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Robert Laurence Binyon, CH (10 August 1869 - 10 March 1943) was an English poet, dramatist and art scholar. Born in Lancaster, England, his parents were Frederick Binyon, a clergyman, and Mary Dockray. He studied at St Paul's School, London and at Trinity College, Oxford, where he won the Newdigate Prize for poetry in 1891. He worked for the British Museum from 1893 until his retirement in 1933. In 1904 he married the historian Cicely Margaret Powell, with whom he had three daughters, including the artist Nicolete Gray.
Moved by the casualties of the British Expeditionary Force in 1914, Binyon wrote his most famous work "
For the Fallen
", which is often recited at Remembrance Sunday services in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. In 1915, he volunteered as a hospital orderly in France and afterwards worked in England, helping to take care of the wounded of the Battle of Verdun. He wrote about these experiences in For Dauntless France, re-released as a centenary edition in 2018 as The Call and the Answer by Dare-Gale Press. After the war, he continued his career at the British Museum, writing numerous books on art."
