Carl Sanburg Grass

Humans are a vicious, controlling, and powerful species. Those in power will do whatever it takes to achieve their set goal even if it means sending troops to fight other soldiers. That is why the saying “history repeats itself” is so relevant. To as far back as records document, battles have been occurring between tribes, states, countries, and provinces. That is the consistency: it is in human nature to fight. However, no matter how the battle or time period differs, nature will prevail. In Carl Sanburg’s poem: “Grass”, the speaker effectively uses pronouns, interrogative adjectives, and imperative verbs to portray that grass will cover up humanity’s mistakes time after time. The pronouns in this poem present the tension between the grass and the people, which in turn exemplifies nature’s superiority. The grass referring to itself as “I” and “me” proves that it is its own entity. It has the ability to wash away the errors inflicted by people battle after battle. As if the battle never even happened, nature takes its toll and covers up for humans’ imperfections. Even the places of the battles are specifically stated as proper nouns. Stating them in this manner draws more attention to the tension between the grass and the …show more content…
The verbs depict the grass as dominant and dynamic. “Pile” and “shovel” appear more grotesque in the context of this poem causing the grass to appear as relentless and careless as if it feels no sympathy for the amount of bodies it lays over. Humans are incapable of learning from their mistakes to ensure they do not happen again. Due to this, grass will always grow covering those atrocities. This inevitability is a consistency that humans do not think about when planning where to fight. They do not imagine that what they are fighting over will end the same way it did battle and battle before