The poem Grass by Carl Sa... free essay sample

The poem Grass by Carl Sandburg is a timeless writing that advances its theme through setting, repetition, and personification. According to the class text, theme is the central message or idea that the poet hopes the reader will take away from the poem (). One of the main themes in Grass is the aftermath of warfare. Sandburg chooses to focus on the death and destruction that results from war instead of the valor or heroism in supporting ones county. He uses lines such as, Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo, to paint this picture (). A second theme touched upon is the one of memory and the past. The grass is used to cover the once red battlefields with a bright layer of green; effectively erasing the lands own scars. This points to the theme that nature will not remember what happened during wartime, therefore, it is up to humanity to remember their own fallen soldiers. We will write a custom essay sample on The poem Grass by Carl Sa or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The final theme in Sandburgs Grass is the longstanding tug-o-war competition between man and the natural world. Man will change the landscape in war but nature will wipe it all away in time. Setting is a fundamental element that provides context for the action of a story (). In Sandburgs Grass, the author uses the names of some of historys more famous battles to convey the theme. Austerlitz, Waterloo, Gettysburg, Ypres, and Verdun were all battles of great carnage and life loss. Sandburg mentions these bloody battles and follows with the line, I am the grass; I cover all. () The line paints a picture of dead bodies, guns, horses, and the injured all mangled together across a battlefield and then the green grass beginning to grow between the cracks to cover and erase. The setting can also solicit an emotional response for the audience which the readers are reminded of when reading about the horrors the green landscape hinds.Repetition is a literary device that repeats the same words or phrases multiple times for emphasis to make an idea more memorable or clear. In Grass, Sandburg enjoys repeating the lines, I am the grass and Let me work for highlight and weight. The poem is written in free verse but is given structure through the repeated pile and shovel phrases along with Sandburgs careful placement of each line (newyork). By repeating these lines Sandburg creates a sense that the grasss work is never done. This plays into the wartime theme in that history is doomed to repeat its battlefield horrors. This poem draws attention to the reality of war and in a sense questions if humanity will do anything to fix the cycle. Another point to notice is that this poem is without rhyme. According to the class text, Rhyme is simply when two words have the same end sound and end rhyme, which is a common in a significant amount of modern poetry but not this piece (). Rhyme gives balance and a sense of completion which isnt the intended effect Sandburg was looking for with this piece of literature. The main line, I am the grass, let me work, is written in a present tense indicating that Sandburg wanted to show the grasss work as incomplete and ongoing (NY). It points the readers once more in the direction of the themes. Sandburg wanted his audience to analyze historys reoccurring cycle of war and the struggle between man and nature. Furthermore, he presses his audience to look deep within oneself and reflect upon the images of wartime aftermath.In the class textbook, personification is defined as when a writer gives a non-human the qualities of a real person (). In Sandburgs poem Grass, the grass is used as the speaker stating phrases such as, Shovel them under and let me work. This shows that Sandburg as given the grass human qualities saying that it has a drive to work. This is personification because the grass is not human and it does not experience motivation, emotions, or a will to work. However, taking up the perspective of the grass in a war setting is a peculiar one. Since grass does not feel or process thought, it doesnt understand the scene of bodies before it that it works to cover. This tosses the responsibility into the hands of humankind. Grass cannot stop war and destruction, it will only work to erase it with the earth that grows up over it. Sandburg points the readers in the direction of the theme again with this point. He acknowledges that only people will be able to remember their death and only people will be able to step in to stop the cycle of slaughter().Through setting, repetition, and personification Carl Sandburg expresses several relevant themes that uphold throughout the centuries in his poem Grass. In the final phrases he engages and turns the attention into the readers, Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:What place is this? Where are we now?(). Sandburg is showing the readers that they are all the passengers on that train. The scenes of massacre Sandburg alludes to are the very images he wants his readers to reflect upon. This circles back to the main themes of wartime aftermath, memory of the past, and the struggle between man and nature. Sandburg wants to pull the readers into the poem, to get them to acknowledges its themes as a very real reality. In this notion, Sandburg ultimately leaves a door of controversial discussions open.