Grass Carl Sandburg Analysis

Grass

The poem Grass by Carl Sandburg sets the mood of the poem by creating the image of war, saying “pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo,” and despite the violence going on caused by humans, nature doesn 't care. The poem is told from the perspective of the ever hardworking grass that just wants to do its jobs. While this massacre is happening the grass states, “shovel them under and let me work,” illustrating the indifference of nature. The grass doesn 't care who wins or who lives - it just wants to do its work and cover the mess that is left behind. It soon depicts years after the battles are over. Empty fields unrecognizable by those who pass by: “What place is this? Where are we now?” Through the use of point of view, allusion and connotation, Grass portrays nature’s apathy towards human conflict due to its continual, nonstop happening, and its insistence to be left alone to do its job of cleaning up the mess left behind.

Carl Sandburg alludes to multiple famous conflicts throughout the poem to create a familiar scene of a war torn battlefield. By referencing “Austerlitz and Waterloo… Gettysburg… Ypres and Verdun,” Sandburg puts a recognizable image of human violence in the reader 's mind. While everyone

To further the idea of nature 's influence, Sandburg develops the personified character of grass from which the point of view the poem is told. By having the grass state, “I am the grass; I cover all,” he personifies nature as a conscious being. This allows the grass to feel the emotions it forms through the poem and furthers the idea of indifference through the conscious decision to ignore human interference. This character that Sandburg creates is a callous being, who sees and recognizes the suffering that has taken place, but is only concerned with itself, and its own interests. The character of grass puts a twist on the stereotypical idea of a nurturing mother nature by ignoring the human disputes and just cleaning up the mess for its own