Have you ever thought of what gass symbolizes? In the poems “Grass” by Carl Sandburg, and “Song Of Myself” by Walt Whitman both talk about grass and how it symbolizes death. “Grass” and “ Song Of Myself “ are genres of poetry. “Song Of Myself“ is a sprawling combination of a biography, sermon, and poetic meditation. Its also one of Whitman's famous works. “Grass” by Carl Sandburg has a melancholy tone. Sandburg uses a lot of personification, and repetition to make the grass have human like qualities. Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman use the symbol of grass to express the themes of lessons that man and nature are connected.
In the poem “Grass,” Carl Sandburg uses the grass as a symbol for death. The overall theme of “Grass” is that of man and
The atmospheric conditions may represent the hardships that the couple had to go through in their relationship, and may also be used contrast the unpredictability of the outside world compared to the steady relationship that the couple have. ‘A Youth Mowing’ is also a poem about relationships, this time it is between a younger couple. The river ‘Isar’ is a symbol of freedom, it represents the way that the men’s lives are. However, this sense of liberty is broken by the ‘swish of the scythe-strokes’ as the girl takes ‘four sharp breaths.’ Sibilance is used to show that there is a sinister undertone to the freedom that the boy has which will be broken by the news that his girlfriend is bringing. She feels guilty for ‘what’s in store,’ as now the boy will have to be committed to spending the rest of his life with her, and paying the price for the fun that they had.
Whitman uses the grass as a metaphor to imply that all people are connected. Whitman uses the grass to represent things he cannot explicitly name. People are all different, individual, but the blades function together. Everyone is needed to make up the grass; one blade cannot stand-alone. The grass encompasses all of America, regardless of race, gender, or religion. Grass grows everywhere there is water and touches everyone. This is one of the ways Whitman seeks to appeal to everyone through language.
Carl Sandburg's short poem "Grass" represents a metaphor for the disguise of history. The persona tells how histories that have taken place are sooner or later disregarded. The persona tells that the histories should not be disregarded, but be left the way it is as cited in the poem "I am the grass .Let me work." People should notice the events that took place and learn from their mistakes and be better people. The places that are mentioned in the poem are allusions. The allusions are indirect references that Carl Sandburg utilizes to exhibit the seriousness of the past events.
Death is a natural cause from the human condition. There are three poems that explore death. “Thanatopsis” by William C. Bryant, “Dust in the wind” by Kansas, and Don't fear the reaper.” by Blue Oyster Cult.
Death is part of the human life cycle, approximately 151,600 people die each day. Everyone wonders how they will die, if they suffer, if it’s tragic or if it’s just simply peaceful. In each of the three poems the main focus is death. Each poem shows a different feeling about death. “Thanatopsis” by William Bryant, “Don’t Fear the Reaper” by Blue Oyster Cult and “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas, all have different meanings of death.
Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Thou famished grave” and “Mindful of you” both include the themes of death, however, “Thou famished grave” uses the personification of a grave as a starving beast, diction to add imagery of starvation, and an image of a strong will to live to show the resentfulness and bitterness that the speaker has towards death, while, “Mindful of you” uses the imagery and personification of the four seasons to remember someone close who has died, to express that although death may take people physically, but they live and are remembered through memories.
Another image that Whitman gives his readers in the poem is that of a handkerchief; we think of two things; drying weeping eyes and initials. During those times, not however as common a practice now, people would carry a handkerchief with them in case of the out cries of a woman. Along with tears, we are forced to think about why people cry? This develops thoughts about people that are loved being torn away, like in death. As you look at a handkerchief, it is often times easy to identify who it belongs to by the initials that appear on the cloth. This is a way to remember those that have died and keep them with you always. I think that this is a major idea of the poem, although someone no longer walks the face of the earth this does not mean that they are no longer with us, because they are in spirit and memory.
Grass serves as the pan-historical speaker and sees humans die constantly, but show little to no emotion. The poem made allusions up to World War I because that was the timeframe Sandburg lived. At the time, World War I was believed to be the war that ends all wars. Ironically, this did not happen because World War II immediately followed. This shows as time passes, the grass will cover it all, leaving nothing behind for people to remember. Nature covers the scars of the past with beautiful landscapes, but there will always be the forgotten bodies beneath. Humans will eventually be forgotten, but nature will always
Throughout the poem, the speaker uses first person pronouns such as “I” and “me,” and third person pronouns such as “them.” Since one pronoun is not used throughout the entire poem, some tension is created between both pronouns/groups of people. The first person pronouns refer to the Grass, whereas the third person pronouns refer to humans and the bodies of soldiers. This difference in pronouns amplifies the fact that the Grass and humans are dissimilar entities and that there is also a difference in superiority between the two. The use of first person pronouns from the point of view of the Grass makes it seem as if the Grass is the one in control, which is what it wants the reader to think. The tension with the third person pronouns makes the humans come across as inferior. If the first person pronouns came from the humans and the third person pronouns came from the Grass, then this feeling would be switched. With the way Sandburg wrote the poem, the Grass takes charge and wants the humans to leave before they make an even bigger mess so it can get cleaned up. The Grass is confident that it can clean up the mess better than the humans will.
The positive outlook that Whitman portrays towards death in his poem the "Wound-Dresser", is similarly shown in Emily Dickinson's "Narrow Fellow in the Grass". She tells a simple story with impressive word choices that allow for deep interpretation and symbolism. Her poem narrates the story of a dead man laying on the ground that looks as if "the Grass divides as with a comb-" (line 5). "He (meaning the dead man) likes Boggy Acre/ A Floor too cool for Corn-" (lines 9-10). Notice as she uses the word 'likes' as if the dead man still lived or had feelings towards the
The poem Grass by Carl Sandburg’s was published in 1918 after the Great War ended which now known as World War 1. The poem Grass is about wars and the remembrance of the people who died on the battlefield protecting our freedom that we are lucky enough to have today. Many people go on with their lives not knowing the dark history that our troops had to go through to be where we are at today. The poem Grass is not spoken by a human, but by the Grass in first person point of view.
There are many themes present in “song of myself”, but three main themes stood out to me more than any other themes. The themes are the beautification of death, knowledge, and the connection between people and things. The beautification of death, knowledge, and the connection between people and things is apparent throughout the poem.” The poem that would come to bear the title "Song of Myself," the major poem of the original 1855 edition, contains several key passages relating to death, including sections 5 and 6, which offer another example of a scene where ecstatic sexual engagement leads to and is linked with a visionary spiritual transcendence of death.” I put this quote from “"Restless Explorations": Whitman's Evolving Spiritual Vision in Leaves of Grass” to support the claim of death being romanticized and repeated throughout the poem.
Poems are like snowflakes. While no two are the same, they all have common structures and themes. One prevalent theme in poetry is that of death, which is present in both “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost. Dickinson perceives death as a gentleman, while Frost perceives death as loneliness, which provides insight on how the time periods of the poems, the genders of the authors, and the authors’ personal experiences influence literature.
By repeating “O” throughout the elegy, it creates a sense of rhythm throughout the free verse without creating a constant structure. The repetition of “O” emphasizes the importance of the word, and enacts Whitman’s misery on death. The sound “O” also resembles the sound of wails from grief, correlating to Whitman’s first notion of death, questioning his relationship with it. Because it is a pastoral elegy, Whitman incorporates a thematic imagery of death to address his own grief. One important element he uses is the image of the coffin. It is decorated with “Blossoms and branches green” (Whitman 47), which
I Am the Grass is a short story written by Daly Walker, who has also written other short stories for The Sewanee Review and The Sycamore Review. Born in Winchester, Indiana in 1924, Daly Walker is a surgeon by trade and started to write after he was forty. Daly also served in the Vietnam War from 1967-1968, it serves as an inspiration for I Am the Grass. The story details a mans struggle of life after the war in Vietnam, and returning to Vietnam. This includes painful psychological trauma, the feeling of guilt for his actions, and finally his attempt to redeem himself in his own eyes.