PhotoPOSTcard: Remembering With Poppies

Poppies at the Imperial War Museum in London

Last Updated on 10/13/20 by Rose Palmer

In Flanders fields the poppies blow between the crosses, row on row…

The first two lines of a poem by John McCrae remember the many lives lost in WWI. Since then, the poppy has become a symbol of veteran remembrance, especially in the UK. 

In 2014, to commemorate the beginning of WWI, an art installation at the Tower of London called Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red used 888,246 red ceramic poppies dripping down the walls of the tower and filling the moat so that it looked like blood. Each poppy represented a British or Colonial serviceman that died in the war.

Since 2014, the poppy installation has been on tour throughout various locations in the UK. This year, as Armistice Day (Nov.11) approached, commemorating the end of WWI, a portion of the wave of poppies was on display at the Imperial War Museum in London. Looking like a rivulet of blood, the stream of poppies came out of one of the dome’s windows and cascaded down the side of the building.

Thanks for visiting.

Rose