Carl Sandburg “Grass”

This poem is very unique. It is told from the view of an inanimate object, grass. I found it interesting because it uses allusion to help make a point to the audience. In this poem different war battles are alluded to. For example, the battle of Austerlitz, Waterloo, and Gettysburg are named. When referring to these battles, the poem talks about the people who died in them. It says to pile the men high and bury them. Then the grass continues to narrate the poem and says, “let me work – I am the grass; I cover all.” I found it interesting to compare the men who died to the grass that will last forever. The grass will always be there and it will always cover those who die; however, I found the most interesting part at the end. The grass seems to erase what happened there, at the battles. When people go by they ask where they are like nothing significant ever happened there. After the grass grew over all the buried bodies, it’s like what happened there was erased or forgotten.

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