The Ode of Remembrance, drawn from the 1914 poem "For the Fallen," serves as a liturgical fixture in international commemoration services. Robert Laurence Binyon, the British poet and art scholar who composed the work, navigated a dual professional life that spanned the quiet archives of the British Museum and the visceral realities of war-torn France.
Academic Foundation and Museum Career
Born in Lancaster in 1869 to clergyman Frederick Binyon and Mary Dockray, Laurence Binyon was educated at St Paul's School and Trinity College, Oxford. His literary promise appeared early when he secured the Newdigate Prize for poetry in 1891. By 1893, he commenced a four-decade tenure at the British Museum. Starting in the Department of Printed Books, he later moved to the Department of Prints and Drawings. In 1913, he became Keeper of the newly formed Sub-Department of Oriental Prints and Drawings, where he influenced contemporary Imagist poets by introducing them to East Asian art.
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The 1914 mobilization and the losses sustained by the British Expeditionary Force prompted Binyon to write "For the Fallen." While staying on the north Cornwall coast, he penned the verses that would later define his public legacy. Beyond his writing, he sought direct involvement in the war effort. In 1915, he volunteered as a hospital orderly at Hôpital Temporaire d'Arc-en-Barrois in France, later assisting the wounded from the Battle of Verdun. He documented these experiences in the prose work For Dauntless France, which was re-released in 2018 as The Call and the Answer.
Artistic Scholarship and Later Years
Binyon maintained a prolific output as an art historian, producing catalogues of English, Chinese, and Japanese prints. His research on William Blake and Persian art bridged distinct cultural traditions. In the later years of his life, he focused on translation, completing his version of Dante’s Divine Comedy between 1933 and his death in 1943. His final poetic achievement, "The Burning of the Leaves," a reflection on the London Blitz, is frequently cited as his masterpiece.
Fast facts
- Born: 1869, Lancaster
- Died: 1943, Reading
- Education: Trinity College, Oxford
- Spouse: Cicely Margaret Powell
- British Museum service: 1893–1933
- Primary fields: Poetry, art history, translation
Questions readers ask
Where is Laurence Binyon buried?
He is buried at St Mary the Virgin Churchyard.
What is the Ode of Remembrance?
It consists of the central stanzas from Binyon's 1914 poem "For the Fallen," widely used in Remembrance Sunday and Anzac Day services.
