September 21 - For the Fallen

Laurence Binyon

The Times publishes what will become one of the most famous poems of the First World War. It was called For the Fallen, and was composed by Laurence Binyon. Binyon gained the inspiration to write these lines while sitting on the cliffs between Pentire Point and The Rumps in north Cornwall. A stone plaque was erected at the spot in 2001 to commemorate the fact.

For the Fallen includes these lines which have been quoted many times since:

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.

However it should be remembered that Binyon wrote other poems on the war, including The Fourth of August, To the Belgians, Louvain, At Reims, and To Women. The significance of some of these titles will be apparent from previous pages in this blog. Three of these poems were set to music by Sir Edward Elgar in 1915-17 under the generic title The Spirit of England. Binyon's poems were published together for the first time later in 1914 under the title The Winnowing Fan. You can read these collected poems here.

In France, 117 battery of the 26th Brigade RFA moves to a new position west of Tour de Paissy Fme, whilst 118 remains where it is. Both batteries are engaged with the enemy's artillery about Cerny and Labouelle.