Carl Sandburg Grass Sparknotes

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Long after the gunshots fade, the only thing left is the site of overturned dirt mounds and the smell of rotting flesh. Poet, Carl Sandburg’s, poem “Grass”, emphasizes nature’s role in covering up the aftermath of the war’s destructiveness. Sandburg’s purpose is to analyze nature’s role in renewing itself after war has disrupted the landscape; he adopts a very literal tone in order to convey his message of reminding the audience how important it is that they not forget the lives that are lost in any conflict, no matter the reason or size through the use of different rhetorical strategies in his writing such as literal diction and syntax. The author starts the poem wielding literal diction by indirectly stating the consequences of war and addressing himself as the grass/nature and his purpose/role in the situation as a reminder to man that …show more content…

The narrator commands that the audience “pile the bodies high”, and for them to “let [him] work” to start to cover up the wastes of war (Sandburg). Sandburg uses a very literal and commanding diction to illustrate from the perspective of nature that mankind leaves the cleaning up to something other than themselves due to the fact that they only seem to want to fight and kill and then leave the dead as they are without a second thought of those that die fighting for what their side believes in. Secondly, as time progresses humankind allows the memory of the lost and dead to fade even further from their memory, so much so as the very battleground that they are killed on is forgotten as travelers ask "What place is

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