“The Sisters Buried at Lemnos”
The poem, “The Sisters Buried at Lemnos”*, by Vera Brittain, is a World War I poem
that can be found on The First World War Poetry Digital Archive on the Oxford website. It was
originally published in August 1918 in Brittain’s Verses of a V. A. D. This poem focuses on and
is dedicated to the women that served in the war and their roles and contributions.
In the first line, the poem refers to Lemnos as a place of devotion.1 By opening the poem
with this line, it immediately gives respect and reverence to the island of Lemnos, where the
women to whom this poem is written about worked. “O” is a signifier of something grand that is
greatly looked upon. In the same way, “Golden” is a term that represents the best and something
of deep admiration. From the very beginning of the poem, Brittain gives the notion that Lemnos
is a place that is not to be forgotten and is an area of much importance.
Brittain continues this same pattern of respect in the continuing lines of the first stanza.
Again, the appreciation for this island, Lemnos, becomes apparent in the third line.2 The action
of kneeling or bowing down represents a feeling of extreme loyalty and affection towards
something. Her “reverent devotion” indicates the strong emotion that she has for this island and
what happened there.
Although this first stanza declares reverence and devotion, it also contains sorrowful and
somber elements, as seen in the second line.3 The purple shadows reduce the island to a dark
place with not much light. It represents that this island is not merely a place of pleasure, even
though it is still regarded as a place of adoration. The last line of this stanza relates directly to
this.4 This line refers to the title of the poem, “The Sisters Buried at Lemnos”. Those who lie to
rest are the women who died at Lemnos while they served during the war.
The second stanza moves from the island to the women, or Sisters, themselves. This
stanza refers to the lack of appreciation the Sisters received for their service during the war. It
describes how they were often overlooked, while the soldiers were the only ones who were given
gratitude. The work of the Sisters was never recorded; however, the soldiers always had their
work documented. The poets were continuously writing and recording the work of the soldiers,
meaning they will be a part of history. Their story will be told throughout generations via the
poems written by the poets.
In contrast, Brittain indicates that their work will never be told or appreciated throughout
the years.6 It will be as if they were never part of the war because their contributions were never
recorded. Even though they died during the war just as the soldiers did, they were never
rewarded or praised for it.
The next section of the poem tells of the challenges the Sisters battled at Lemnos.
Although the poem suggests that they did not actually fight with weapons, they had their own
battles that they fought on the island. As nurses, the Sisters had to fight against the illnesses of
the soldiers and their wounds. In addition to that, they battled with the extreme weather
conditions of the island as well as the lack of necessities due to the war.7 The conditions on the
Lemnos were nowhere near pleasant for the Sisters. In the same way the soldiers fought and
died, the women did too, but in a different way.
Although they had to face many challenges, the Sisters never gave up until they could no
longer survive under those conditions. Even when all odds were against them, they continued to
fight against their conditions and not back down.8 Their strong spirits were never broken; rather,
they used these spirits to push through and not coward away. They would have kept going, but
were detained by their mortality. Even though their spirits never gave up, their bodies could not
handle the conditions any longer. However, they still fought fiercely until the very end.
Again, Brittain brings back the idea that the Sisters were never praised for their work in
the fifth stanza. They did their work while knowing they were not going to receive any reward
or recognition. This makes them braver than the soldiers, who do receive admiration for their
service. They fulfilled their duties, not for heroic gain, but to save the lives of the soldiers.
Because they died without a reward, they will remain living and known only through the soldiers
they saved.9
The next stanza is filled with much substance and richness. The whole stanza asks the
question: who will continue to remember and honor the Sisters. The powerful words Brittain
uses here are “Final Dawn”.10 She is asking how they are going to be remembered forever.
“Final Dawn” is capitalized indicating its importance; it is the final, last day of the world, which
makes her question more meaningful. Her question then becomes, who is going to remember the
Sisters until the world stands still? Also, she mentions that the light of the dawn returns every
morning and never forgets.11 This light, unlike the rest of the world, always remembers to return
in reverence to the Sisters and where they lay. It is paired with the rest of the world to show the
lack of regard that others have for those women.
The final stanza answers the question of the previous one. Brittain writes that she will
never think of Lemnos without thinking of the women there. She, unlike the rest of the world,
will always remember them and what they’ve done. She begins with “O golden Isle” and also
mentions the “purple shadows”, as she does in the first stanza.12 These recurring lines bring the
poem full circle and back to the beginning. However, she mentions the purple shadows in a
different way. In the first stanza, she introduces the shadows in a somber light. In the last
stanza, the attitude about the shadows shifts. Instead, they become a reminder to her of the
Sisters whose souls rest there.13 This reminder produces extreme gratitude and devotion, rather
than sadness as in the first stanza.
This poem is better understood and appreciated after looking at the background of Vera
Brittain. According to Alisa Miller’s biography of Brittain, found in The First World War
Poetry Digital Archive on the Oxford website, she grew up with only one brother and the two
were very close, even though they were separated for periods due to the war. The war was
something that greatly influenced her writing because of her involvement and the impact it had
on her.
Shortly after the war started, her brother and two friends enlisted. Vera chose to help in
the war too by leaving school and joining the service to be a nurse, primarily working in England
and France. As a result of the war, she lost her brother, a fiancée, a husband and a friend.14 The
war impacted her life in a substantial way through her experiences as a nurse and the losses she
suffered, which is seen in most of her writing.
Her experiences of war give “The Sister Buried at Lemnos” new meaning. It is evident
now, after her biography, why she placed such emphasis on the remembrance of the women of
the war in her poem. She was one of the women who served in the war and knew how it felt not
to be appreciated. She wrote this poem for them because she knew nothing else would be
recorded. This poem is her tribute to them. It is her way of keeping them alive throughout the
generations, just as other poets keep the soldiers alive. She wanted to make sure that they are
represented as having a role in the war. She also wrote it from personal experience, as she was a
nurse, making it more influential and powerful.
Her own history also makes the last stanza more significant. She answers her question of
who will never forget the Sisters by saying that she will always remember them. She has to
make sure she always remembers them because no one else will. She knows this because of the
experiences in the war and what they have shown her. The way in which she forever remembers
them is through her poem. It is her dedication to them and will survive long after she is gone,
until the “Final Dawn”.
1
“O Golden Isle” (Brittain 1)
2
“I kneel to thee in reverent devotion” (Brittain 3).
3
“With purple shadows flitting o’er thy crest” (Brittain 2).
4
”who on thy bosom lie at rest!” (Brittain 4).
5
“Poets praise the soldier’s might and deeds/ of War” (Brittain 6-7).
6
“few exalt the Sisters” (Brittain 8).
“heat and hunger, sickness and privation,/ And Winter's deathly chill and blinding/
snow” (Brittain 12-14).
7
8
“in body weak, but spirit ever strong” (Brittain 17).
”The only meed of their victorious dying/ Lives in the heart of the humble men they/
saved” (Brittain 23-25).
9
10
”Who when in light the Final Dawn is breaking” (Brittain 26).
“still faithfull, though the world’s regard may/ cease” (Brittain 27-28).
11
12
”O golden isle with purple shadows falling” (Brittain 31)
”I shall not picture these without recalling/ The Sisters sleeping on the hearts of thee!”
(Brittain 33-34).
13
Miller, Alisa. “Biography”. The Vera Brittain Collection. The First World War
Poetry Digital Archive. U. of Oxford. 18 of February 2011 < http://www.oucs.
ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/coll ections/brittain>.
14.
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemnos
There are very interesting historical and mythical
associations for Lemnos—I honestly don’t know if they are relevant or not.
Works Cited
Brittain, Vera. “The Sisters Buried at Lemnos”. Verses of a V.A.D. Imperial War Museum,
London. The First World War Poetry Digital Archive. 1995. U. of Oxford. 18 of
February 2011 < http://www.oucs.ox.ac.u k/ww1lit/collections/item/ 1746?CISOBOX=1
&REC=1>.
Miller, Alisa. “Biography”. The Vera Brittain Collection. The First World War Poetry Digital
Archive. U. of Oxford. 18 of February 2011 < http://www.oucs.
ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/collections/brittain>.