Jaehyun Jeong
American Literature
Ms. Lafferty
April 8th 2015
Nature of Carl Sandburg Writing the free verse poem, Carl Sandburg observes the vast in many perspectives. In 1900s, America was in industrial revolution era. The industrial revolution, people commonly called it as one of the biggest revolution in human history, benefits in all human life make more comfortable and possibility to escape from the poverty. The revolution seems totally benefit in human life. Carl Sandburg also depicts industrial America through his poetry. He mainly portrays the beauty of industrialism. However, Sandburg not only praises the industrial revolution but also finds out shadow of the revolution and reminisces about the past when the nature is blended …show more content…
The poem ‘Chicago’, one of his representative works, illustrates well about the beauty of industrialism despite its flaw. In the poem ‘Chicago’, the quote, “Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.”(Sandburg, Chicago), shows that Sandburg intends to depict the city ‘Chicago’ as more likely human. By equalizing the city and human, Sandburg puts breathing into the dry city, which changes to energetic city. Also, in last three sentences of the poem, the city can express its emotions by ‘laughing’ and ‘feeling the pulses’. The importance of human in nature is also shown in the poem ‘Lost’. Sandburg metaphors ‘Lost’ as the child. It is written in same place with the poem ‘Fog’, so the poem ‘Lost’ has similar mood. Sandburg illustrates loneliness and sadness of the lake. Through the personification, he sets the emotions into the nature that seems like human. The fourth to fifth sentence, “The whistle of a boat calls and cries unendingly like some lost child”, strongly arouses the image of emotional and delicate part of the nature. Because of symbolizing the ‘lost’ as a ‘child’, the emotional and delicate feelings become distinctly emerged. Likely from the above examples, Sandburg intends to portray the nature as a first …show more content…
The poem ‘Grass’ represents the beauty through historical evidence. In the poem ‘Grass’, there are many historical places. Austerlitz is the place where Napoleon won the war against Austria army in 1805, and Waterloo is the place where Napoleon loses the war by the U.K. and Prussia allied force in 1815. Gettysburg is where the U.S. Civil war was occurred in 1861, Ypres and Verdun are where First World War was occurred. Therefore, all these places are where people are bloodily died because of the war. In the first stanza, ‘I’ is ‘grass’ and ‘grass’ says that piles all dead bodies and shovels them under the ground. The last sentence of first stanza, “I am the grass, I cover all” (Sandburg, Grass), represents that ‘I’ tries to forget memories during the war. In the second stanza, Sandburg says the oblivion that people forget the cruelty of war after nature cover the traces. In last stanza, “I am the grass Let me work” portrays that people reveals the mind of new beginning. Hence, Sandburg gives the message through the word ‘grass’. Sandburg has totally different perspective compares with his contemporary poet. He evokes the cruelty and darkness corners with the beauty of nature. Duffey also says that “Perhaps the commonest humanizer of landscape in Sandburg is that response to its beauty, but if we are to understand the sense of beauty that moves him we should beware of easy responses” (Duffey, 298). The
American Literature
Ms. Lafferty
April 8th 2015
Nature of Carl Sandburg Writing the free verse poem, Carl Sandburg observes the vast in many perspectives. In 1900s, America was in industrial revolution era. The industrial revolution, people commonly called it as one of the biggest revolution in human history, benefits in all human life make more comfortable and possibility to escape from the poverty. The revolution seems totally benefit in human life. Carl Sandburg also depicts industrial America through his poetry. He mainly portrays the beauty of industrialism. However, Sandburg not only praises the industrial revolution but also finds out shadow of the revolution and reminisces about the past when the nature is blended …show more content…
The poem ‘Chicago’, one of his representative works, illustrates well about the beauty of industrialism despite its flaw. In the poem ‘Chicago’, the quote, “Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.”(Sandburg, Chicago), shows that Sandburg intends to depict the city ‘Chicago’ as more likely human. By equalizing the city and human, Sandburg puts breathing into the dry city, which changes to energetic city. Also, in last three sentences of the poem, the city can express its emotions by ‘laughing’ and ‘feeling the pulses’. The importance of human in nature is also shown in the poem ‘Lost’. Sandburg metaphors ‘Lost’ as the child. It is written in same place with the poem ‘Fog’, so the poem ‘Lost’ has similar mood. Sandburg illustrates loneliness and sadness of the lake. Through the personification, he sets the emotions into the nature that seems like human. The fourth to fifth sentence, “The whistle of a boat calls and cries unendingly like some lost child”, strongly arouses the image of emotional and delicate part of the nature. Because of symbolizing the ‘lost’ as a ‘child’, the emotional and delicate feelings become distinctly emerged. Likely from the above examples, Sandburg intends to portray the nature as a first …show more content…
The poem ‘Grass’ represents the beauty through historical evidence. In the poem ‘Grass’, there are many historical places. Austerlitz is the place where Napoleon won the war against Austria army in 1805, and Waterloo is the place where Napoleon loses the war by the U.K. and Prussia allied force in 1815. Gettysburg is where the U.S. Civil war was occurred in 1861, Ypres and Verdun are where First World War was occurred. Therefore, all these places are where people are bloodily died because of the war. In the first stanza, ‘I’ is ‘grass’ and ‘grass’ says that piles all dead bodies and shovels them under the ground. The last sentence of first stanza, “I am the grass, I cover all” (Sandburg, Grass), represents that ‘I’ tries to forget memories during the war. In the second stanza, Sandburg says the oblivion that people forget the cruelty of war after nature cover the traces. In last stanza, “I am the grass Let me work” portrays that people reveals the mind of new beginning. Hence, Sandburg gives the message through the word ‘grass’. Sandburg has totally different perspective compares with his contemporary poet. He evokes the cruelty and darkness corners with the beauty of nature. Duffey also says that “Perhaps the commonest humanizer of landscape in Sandburg is that response to its beauty, but if we are to understand the sense of beauty that moves him we should beware of easy responses” (Duffey, 298). The