Response to Grass

 GRASS

by: Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)

ILE the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo,

Shovel them under and let me work--

I am the grass; I cover all.

 

And pile them high at Gettysburg

And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.

Shovel them under and let me work.

Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:

What place is this?

Where are we now?

 

I am the grass.

Let me work.

“Pile the bodies high” says Carl Sandburg giving us a dark and dramatic image right at the beginning of the poem. What did Sandburg mean by Grass with its imagery of death and nature? I believe that the author was meaning to show us the effect that time and nature has to have in covering up the destructive force of mankind.

The destructive force of man is evident in the poem. Its meaning is given to us by the mention of well known and important places where a battle has taken place. The author gives the never ending feel of destruction by placing the battles, in chronological order, from two different centuries. Austerlitz and Waterloo taking place in the beginning of the 19^th century, Gettysburg later on during the Civil War, and Ypres and Verdun in the early 20^th century during World War II.

It is written from the point of view of grass, almost as if nature itself was talking to you. Saying that no matter what damage you can inflect time can cover it up. The last stanza is very short and to the point. It rounds the poem out and ties it all together. It gives the impression that in the end there is just nature.

The three stanzas of the poem gives a clear point at the beginning and the end. It moves you to almost a futile look at what we as humans do. Nothing that we as mankind can do will last forever.