Introduction: “Grass” by Carl Sandburg
“Grass” by Carl Sandburg, first appeared in 1918 as part of his collection Cornhuskers, reflects Sandburg’s modernist style, characterized by simplicity in language, strong imagery, and a focus on themes of war, death, and memory. The main idea of “Grass” centers on the relentless passage of time and nature’s capacity to cover up the scars of human conflict. The grass, personified as the speaker, commands to “pile the bodies high” at battlefields like Austerlitz and Waterloo, eventually erasing the evidence of destruction. Sandburg’s work evokes a powerful reflection on the transience of human history, suggesting that nature, indifferent to human suffering, ultimately reclaims and forgets the tragedies of war.
Text: “Grass” by Carl Sandburg
Pile 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.
Annotations: “Grass” by Carl Sandburg
| Line | Explanation | Literary Devices | Structural Devices | Rhetorical Devices |
| “Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.” | Refers to the battlefields of Austerlitz (1805) and Waterloo (1815), evoking imagery of mass death and destruction. | Allusion: Historical references to two major Napoleonic wars. Imagery: Visualizes a grim scene of bodies piled high. | Enjambment: The sentence flows into the next line, contributing to a sense of continuation. | Imperative Voice: Direct command, indicating the indifference of nature to human loss. |
| “Shovel them under and let me work—” | The grass is asking for bodies to be buried so it can begin its natural process of covering them, symbolizing nature’s ability to heal or obscure history. | Personification: Grass is given human-like qualities, working and covering the dead. Metaphor: Grass represents nature’s power to cover the remnants of war. | Caesura: The dash at the end of the line adds a pause, emphasizing the grass’s patient role. | Repetition: The line is repeated in other stanzas, reinforcing the theme. |
| “I am the grass; I cover all.” | The grass speaks directly, reinforcing its identity as a force of nature that covers everything, including the horrors of war. | Personification: Grass speaks in the first person, taking on an active role. Symbolism: Grass symbolizes time and nature’s inevitability. | Short declarative sentence: Increases the grass’s authority and finality. | Anaphora: The repeated “I am” adds weight to the grass’s identity. |
| “And pile them high at Gettysburg” | Refers to the U.S. Civil War battlefield of Gettysburg (1863), another site of mass death, broadening the scope of the poem to include American history. | Allusion: Reference to Gettysburg invokes war and national trauma. Imagery: Continues the visualization of mass death. | Anaphora: Repetition of the structure from the first stanza links the past wars. | Parallelism: The repetition of “pile them high” mirrors the earlier line, emphasizing the repetitive nature of war. |
| “And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.” | References World War I battlefields, Ypres and Verdun, further expanding the scope of the poem’s critique of war. | Allusion: Points to major WWI battles, extending the poem’s historical span. Imagery: Evokes the same visual of death and burial. | Parallel Structure: Repeats the format of the earlier lines, reinforcing the ongoing nature of war. | Cataloging: Listing different battlefields creates a sense of accumulation of wars over time. |
| “Shovel them under and let me work.” | Repetition of the earlier line, reinforcing the role of grass (nature) in erasing the evidence of human conflict over time. | Repetition: Exact repetition of the second line, reinforcing the theme of forgetting. | Enjambment: Carries the reader forward, mirroring the relentless passage of time. | Imperative Tone: The command remains firm, signifying inevitability. |
| “Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:” | As time passes (two years, ten years), people forget the significance of these battlefields, now unrecognizable due to the covering grass. | Symbolism: Time passing indicates the erasure of memory. Imagery: The passengers symbolize collective human ignorance or forgetfulness. | Shift in perspective: Moves from the grass’s voice to a human perspective, showing detachment from history. | Temporal progression: “Two years, ten years” shows the gradual fading of memory over time. |
| “What place is this?” | The passengers, ignorant of the history, ask where they are, showing how time and nature erase the memory of war. | Irony: The passengers don’t recognize the historically significant place. | Dialogue: Introducing speech highlights the distance between human memory and history. | Rhetorical Question: Reflects the passengers’ disconnection from history and its importance. |
| “Where are we now?” | Continuation of the passengers’ ignorance, emphasizing the theme of forgetfulness as nature covers historical atrocities. | Rhetorical Question: Reinforces the passengers’ lack of historical knowledge. | Repetition: The questioning mirrors the earlier dialogue, amplifying ignorance. | Juxtaposition: The question contrasts with the grand historical weight of the earlier allusions. |
| “I am the grass.” | The grass reasserts its role as the speaker, symbolizing its authority over human history. | Personification: The grass takes on an active, almost indifferent role. | Short declarative sentence: Establishes the grass’s dominance in the poem. | Repetition: Echoes earlier lines, reinforcing the grass’s enduring presence. |
| “Let me work.” | The final line, a command from the grass, reinforces the idea that nature and time will erase all traces of human conflict. | Personification: The grass “works” to erase history. Metaphor: Grass as a metaphor for time and nature’s ability to heal and forget. | Imperative Tone: The final command conveys inevitability and acceptance. | Finality: The short, conclusive line mirrors the erasure of human history. |
Literary And Poetic Devices: “Grass” by Carl Sandburg
| Literary/Poetic Device | Example from the Poem | Explanation of the Device |
| 1. Allusion | “Austerlitz and Waterloo” | References to historical battles (Austerlitz and Waterloo) serve to invoke significant events of human conflict, grounding the poem in real history. |
| 2. Personification | “I am the grass; I cover all.” | The grass is given human qualities, such as the ability to work and cover, making it an active agent in erasing the evidence of war. |
| 3. Imagery | “Pile the bodies high” | Evokes a vivid mental picture of death and destruction, emphasizing the grim reality of war. |
| 4. Repetition | “Shovel them under and let me work.” | The repetition of this line underscores the relentless nature of time and the grass’s role in covering the scars of war. |
| 5. Imperative Tone | “Pile the bodies high” | Commands the audience to act, reflecting the grass’s indifferent yet powerful authority over human events. |
| 6. Metaphor | “I am the grass” | The grass symbolizes time, nature, and the process of forgetting, as it metaphorically covers the remnants of human violence. |
| 7. Enjambment | “Shovel them under and let me work—” | The thought carries over to the next line without a pause, creating a sense of flow and continuation, mimicking the ongoing process of time. |
| 8. Caesura | “Shovel them under and let me work—” | The dash creates a pause, emphasizing the grass’s command and separating it from the following lines. |
| 9. Anaphora | “Pile them high” | The repetition of the phrase at the beginning of consecutive lines reinforces the magnitude of human death across different wars. |
| 10. Symbolism | Grass | The grass symbolizes nature’s neutrality, time’s passage, and the eventual forgetting of historical tragedies. |
| 11. Irony | “What place is this?” | The passengers are unaware that they are traveling over once-significant battlefields, illustrating the irony of forgetting monumental historical events. |
| 12. Juxtaposition | “Pile the bodies high” vs. “Let me work.” | The juxtaposition between the violence of war and the calm, indifferent nature of the grass highlights the contrast between human tragedy and nature’s response. |
| 13. Parallelism | “Pile the bodies high…Shovel them under” | The parallel structure of these phrases emphasizes the repetition of war and death across different historical events. |
| 14. Cataloging | “Austerlitz, Waterloo, Gettysburg, Ypres, Verdun” | Listing the names of multiple battlefields creates a cumulative effect, underscoring the widespread and repetitive nature of war. |
| 15. Declarative Sentence | “I am the grass.” | This simple, direct statement affirms the grass’s identity and power, providing a stark contrast to the complexity of human conflict. |
| 16. Dialogue | “What place is this? Where are we now?” | The inclusion of dialogue from the passengers adds a human element, showing their detachment and lack of awareness of the historical significance of the land. |
| 17. Rhetorical Question | “What place is this?” | The rhetorical question underscores how the passage of time leads people to forget the importance of historical battle sites. |
| 18. Synecdoche | “Bodies” | The term “bodies” stands in for soldiers and civilians killed in war, reducing the human element to a mass of forgotten corpses. |
| 19. Finality | “Let me work.” | The short, final line gives the poem a sense of closure, mirroring the grass’s continual, unchanging role in covering history. |
| 20. Temporal Progression | “Two years, ten years” | This phrase emphasizes the passage of time, suggesting how quickly memories of war fade from collective consciousness. |
Themes: “Grass” by Carl Sandburg
- The Indifference of Nature: One of the central themes in “Grass” is nature’s indifference to human suffering and conflict. The grass, personified as the speaker, doesn’t acknowledge the horror or the scale of the wars it covers. Instead, it simply commands, “Shovel them under and let me work.” The grass’s primary function is to reclaim and cover, regardless of the death and destruction beneath. This suggests that nature continues its cycle, unaffected by the tragedies of human history. The grass’s indifferent attitude symbolizes how nature, and by extension time, will erase the marks of human suffering, allowing life to continue as though nothing happened.
- The Erasure of History and Memory: Grass explores how, over time, the memory of even the most horrific events fades away. The poem references significant battlefields—Austerlitz, Waterloo, Gettysburg, Ypres, and Verdun—all locations of mass death and destruction, yet the poem implies that, as years pass, people will forget these historical events. This is captured in the lines: “Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor: What place is this? Where are we now?” These rhetorical questions reflect the gradual erasure of history from collective memory as nature, symbolized by the grass, covers the sites of human conflict. The grass obscures the evidence of war, leading future generations to forget the significance of these places.
- The Cyclicality of War: The poem’s references to various battlefields across different centuries suggest that war is a cyclical phenomenon, constantly recurring throughout human history. By listing wars from the Napoleonic era (Austerlitz, Waterloo) to the U.S. Civil War (Gettysburg) to World War I (Ypres, Verdun), Sandburg demonstrates that death and conflict are enduring aspects of human life. The repetition of the phrase “Pile the bodies high” reinforces this cycle, as it applies to battles from different times and places, indicating that war and its consequences are repetitive and universal. The grass’s role in covering these battlefields after each war suggests that, while war may continue, it is ultimately forgotten, allowing for the next cycle of violence to begin.
- The Power of Time: Time is a dominant theme in “Grass”, depicted through the grass’s slow yet steady ability to cover the evidence of war. The line “I am the grass; I cover all” illustrates the inevitable passage of time and nature’s power to heal and obscure human actions. The grass does not distinguish between one war or another; it simply covers the scars left behind, symbolizing how, with enough time, all human actions, no matter how tragic or significant, will be forgotten. The reference to “Two years, ten years” indicates how quickly historical events fade from memory, underscoring the transient nature of human life and achievements in the face of time’s unrelenting progress.
Literary Theories and “Grass” by Carl Sandburg
| Literary Theory | Explanation | Application to “Grass” | References from the Poem |
| Marxist Criticism | Focuses on the socio-economic factors driving historical events and the impact of class struggles on society. | “Grass” can be viewed as a critique of how historical events, particularly wars, benefit the ruling class while the masses suffer and die, ultimately becoming forgotten. The grass symbolizes how history often erases the suffering of common people, leaving only the elite narratives. | The grass “covers all,” symbolizing how the deaths of countless soldiers (many of whom were common people) are buried and forgotten, reflecting how working-class lives are often erased in the grand narratives of history. |
| New Historicism | Considers literature in relation to the historical context in which it was written, analyzing how it reflects power structures and historical events. | “Grass” can be analyzed in terms of how it responds to historical events like World War I, as it includes references to significant battles throughout history. The poem reflects on how history is written and remembered, focusing on the erasure of memory through time. | References to “Austerlitz,” “Waterloo,” “Gettysburg,” “Ypres,” and “Verdun” show how historical memory fades, as represented by passengers asking, “What place is this?” suggesting that wars, even monumental ones, become forgotten over time. |
| Ecocriticism | Examines the relationship between literature and the environment, focusing on how nature is portrayed in texts. | “Grass” portrays nature as an indifferent force that covers the remnants of human conflict. From an ecocritical perspective, the grass’s role in “covering all” can be seen as a reflection of nature’s power to reclaim and erase human activity, revealing the smallness of human struggles compared to the enduring natural world. | “I am the grass; I cover all.” The grass, representing nature, quietly but steadily covers battlefields, symbolizing nature’s indifference to human events and its eventual erasure of even the most violent acts of humanity. |
Critical Questions about “Grass” by Carl Sandburg
· How does the personification of grass in “Grass” reflect the theme of nature’s indifference to human suffering?
- In “Grass”, the grass is personified as an active, working entity that covers the aftermath of human conflict without concern for the magnitude of death it encounters. The grass’s command, “Shovel them under and let me work,” shows an indifferent attitude, emphasizing that nature, through the passage of time, has no emotional response to human tragedy. By giving grass the voice of a worker who quietly covers the remains of war, Sandburg highlights the idea that while humans may feel deeply about the consequences of violence, nature is indifferent and simply continues its cycles. The grass, as the poem states, “covers all,” reflecting how time erases both the grandeur and horror of human actions, leaving the land eventually reclaimed by the natural world.
· What does “Grass” suggest about the collective memory of historical events, particularly wars?
- In “Grass”, Sandburg reflects on how quickly historical events, even monumental wars, are forgotten by society. The grass covers the battlefields of Austerlitz, Waterloo, Gettysburg, Ypres, and Verdun—each a site of significant historical importance—and yet, in time, passengers ask the conductor, “What place is this? Where are we now?” This suggests that, over time, people lose connection to the significance of these places. The poem questions the reliability of collective memory and implies that time erodes not only the physical evidence of war but also the memories of those who fought and died. By choosing grass as the speaker, Sandburg symbolizes the fading of memory, as nature quietly reclaims the sites of historical conflict, rendering them indistinct and forgotten.
· How does the structure of “Grass” reinforce its central themes of time and forgetfulness?
- The structure of “Grass” plays a crucial role in reinforcing its themes of time’s passage and the forgetfulness of human history. The repetitive commands, “Pile the bodies high” and “Shovel them under and let me work,” emphasize the ongoing nature of death and war. The repetition suggests that these actions—war, death, and the covering of their traces—are cyclical and unending. Additionally, the use of enjambment, as in “Shovel them under and let me work— / I am the grass; I cover all,” mimics the seamless process of time flowing forward, continuously erasing the past. This structural choice reinforces the poem’s central theme: no matter how significant historical events may seem, time will inevitably blur and bury them beneath the surface of forgetfulness.
· In what ways does “Grass” challenge traditional views of historical significance?
- “Grass” challenges the notion that the importance of historical events, particularly wars, will endure in memory. By referencing battles like Austerlitz, Waterloo, Gettysburg, Ypres, and Verdun, Sandburg alludes to significant moments in history, but the grass’s quiet work of covering these places suggests that, ultimately, their significance will be forgotten. The line “Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor: What place is this?” challenges the belief that monumental wars will be remembered by future generations. Instead, Sandburg suggests that time, embodied by the grass, will erase the evidence of even the most significant human conflicts. This creates a sense of futility in human endeavors, as even the greatest battles will eventually fade from memory, challenging traditional views of historical legacy and importance.
Literary Works Similar to “Grass” by Carl Sandburg
- “Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley: Both poems explore the theme of the inevitable passage of time and the erasure of human achievements by nature.
- “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold: Like “Grass”, this poem reflects on human suffering and the indifferent, unchanging forces of nature.
- “The Waste Land” by T.S. Eliot: This poem, similar to “Grass”, delves into the decay and desolation following war, with an emphasis on the cyclical nature of history.
- “Requiem” by Anna Akhmatova: Both poems address the sorrow and devastation left behind by human conflict and the loss of memory over time.
- “The Second Coming” by W.B. Yeats: Like “Grass”, this poem reflects on the collapse of civilizations and the chaos of human conflict, set against an indifferent universe.
Representative Quotations of “Grass” by Carl Sandburg
| Quotation | Context | Theoretical Perspective (in bold) |
| “Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.” | References the battles of Austerlitz (1805) and Waterloo (1815), introducing the theme of historical conflict. | New Historicism: Highlights how historical events are treated in literature, focusing on how they shape and reflect cultural memory. |
| “Shovel them under and let me work—” | The grass, personified, commands that the dead be buried so it can begin to cover them, symbolizing time’s erasure of human tragedy. | Ecocriticism: Explores nature’s role in reclaiming human spaces, emphasizing the grass’s indifference to human events. |
| “I am the grass; I cover all.” | The grass asserts its role as a force that will eventually erase all evidence of war and death. | Poststructuralism: Challenges the permanence of human meaning and suggests that nature (and time) undermines human constructs. |
| “And pile them high at Gettysburg” | Refers to the U.S. Civil War battlefield, broadening the scope of the poem to include American history. | Marxist Criticism: Reflects on how history is written, often erasing the suffering of ordinary people in the narrative of war. |
| “And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.” | References World War I battlefields, expanding the global historical perspective of war and its consequences. | New Historicism: Emphasizes how these historical events are memorialized and later forgotten, questioning how we remember wars. |
| “Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:” | Depicts the passage of time and the fading of memory, as future generations forget the significance of these battlefields. | Psychoanalytic Criticism: Suggests a collective amnesia or repression of traumatic historical memories. |
| “What place is this?” | Passengers, unaware of the battlefield’s history, ask about their location, indicating how quickly memory fades. | Postmodernism: Highlights the instability of historical knowledge and the subjective nature of memory. |
| “Where are we now?” | The repetition of the passengers’ question emphasizes the disconnect between present and past, as historical significance is lost. | Deconstruction: Reveals the fragmentation of meaning and challenges the fixed understanding of history. |
| “Let me work.” | The grass reiterates its function to cover and erase, symbolizing nature’s quiet but inevitable process. | Ecocriticism: Nature is shown as a relentless force that reclaims human spaces, unconcerned with human history or suffering. |
| “I cover all.” | The grass asserts that it will eventually erase all traces of war, death, and memory, reinforcing the theme of time’s power. | Existentialism: Reflects on the futility of human efforts and the eventual erasure of human achievements by time and nature. |
Suggested Readings: “Grass” by Carl Sandburg
- Monroe, Harriet. “Carl Sandburg.” Poetry, vol. 24, no. 6, 1924, pp. 320–26. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20574746. Accessed 20 Oct. 2024.
- Yatron, Michael. “Carl Sandburg: The Poet as Nonconformist.” The English Journal, vol. 48, no. 9, 1959, pp. 524–39. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/808852. Accessed 20 Oct. 2024.
- Holcomb, Esther Lolita. “Whitman and Sandburg.” The English Journal, vol. 17, no. 7, 1928, pp. 549–55. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/803832. Accessed 20 Oct. 2024.
- Van Wienen, Mark. “Taming the Socialist: Carl Sandburg’s Chicago Poems and Its Critics.” American Literature, vol. 63, no. 1, 1991, pp. 89–103. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2926563. Accessed 20 Oct. 2024.