In Flanders fields the poppies blow / Between the crosses, row on row.
-- Speaker (Lines 1 – 2)

Importance: These are the opening lines of the poem. They introduce readers to the setting, Flanders fields, while also establishing the poem's major motif of juxtaposing an image of life with that of death. The poppy flowers signify vitality, while the crosses signify fallen soldiers and the sacrifice they made in battle.

In the sky / The larks, still bravely singing, fly / Scarce heard amid the guns below.
-- Speaker (Lines 3 – 5)

Importance: Here, the speaker once again juxtaposes an image of life with one of death: the larks fly overhead while the gunshots ring out below, suggesting that the battle continues and more soldiers are dying. That the larks are described as "bravely singing" suggests that their persistence in the midst of such destruction is natural and admirable.

We are the Dead.
-- Speaker (Line 6)

Importance: At the beginning of the second stanza, the speaker uses first-person plural...