What does this line from the poem Flander's Fields mean?

Question

Take up our quarrel with the foe

Answer 1

Go fight the enemy.

Answer 2

It rarely works to isolate one line of a poem to try to "get" its meaning. You need to consider the entire context.

------------------------

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
This stanza is describing the huge military cemeteries -- the poppies (flowers), the crosses, the rows, the guns that keep firing during funerals.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
In this stanza, the poet is telling us what he thinks the dead and buried soldiers are telling us.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
So ... in this stanza who do you think "our" is referring to? Whose hands are "failing"? Who are "you"?

Let us know what you think.