For the Fallen is a poem by Laurence Binyon, published in The Times on 21 September 1914, a few weeks after the start of the First World War. Its fourth stanza, known as the Ode of Remembrance, is recited at ceremonies throughout the Commonwealth.
Writing
Binyon wrote the poem in mid-September 1914, after the British Expeditionary Force had suffered heavy losses at Mons and the Marne. He composed it, he later said, while sitting on the cliffs of north Cornwall, between Pentire Point and The Rumps.
Too old to enlist at the time, he was forty-five and working at the British Museum, where he had been employed for twenty years.
The poem
In seven stanzas, the poem mourns the young soldiers who have died and promises that the nation will remember them. It moves from grief to a vision of the dead as stars, fixed and eternal.
The fourth stanza, with its promise that the fallen will not grow old, is the one recited at Remembrance Day, Anzac Day and military funerals, followed by the words 'We will remember them'.
Memorials
Lines from the poem are carved on war memorials across Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. A plaque on the cliffs at Pentire Point marks the place where it was written.
Edward Elgar set it to music in The Spirit of England, first performed in full in 1917.
Anecdotes
'Grow not old'
There has been debate whether Binyon wrote 'grow not old' or 'grow old not'; the first version, as published in The Times, is the one used in ceremonies.
At the Cenotaph
The Ode is read at many British remembrance services, and at the Menin Gate in Ypres it is recited every evening during the Last Post ceremony, held there since 1928.
Frequently asked questions
When was For the Fallen written?
In mid-September 1914, and published in The Times on 21 September.
What is the Ode of Remembrance?
The fourth stanza of For the Fallen, recited at remembrance ceremonies.
Where was the poem written?
On the cliffs of north Cornwall, near Polzeath, according to Binyon.