Carl Sandburg Grass Sparknotes

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

they must remember and honor their history and losses alike to avoid repeating its history of conflict, which, in turn would result in more losses.

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

this?” “Where are we now?" (Sandburg). The author asks rhetorical questions to emphasize the fact that too often man decides to continue on with life and live in the present without remembering what got them to where they are, and if man continues on the track of blissful ignorance, they are doomed to repeat the same mistakes again. Sandburg creates a literal and commanding diction in his poem to remind his audience, all of mankind, that in order to avoid dooming itself to repeating its history of violence and loss, mankind has to pay proper remembrance to those who are lost each time man decides war is the only way they can resolve a conflict.
In the second stanza of the poem, the author utilizes repetitive and precise syntax to show that not only does humanity need to learn from their past but that humanity is already making the same mistakes, and are resulting in more deaths. The human race has already demonstrated that they are incapable of not making the same mistake of conflict and now the narrator tells them ”And pile them at Gettysburg” “And pile them at Ypres and Verdun”, so nature can continue covering up the forgotten dead (Sandburg). The poet purposefully repeats the command of piling up the bodies to illustrate that every time there is a battle more lives are lost and forgotten. Through his use of repetitive syntax, Sandburg is showing the consequences of what happens when man does not acknowledge what exactly it is losing during these events.
All in all, Carl Sandburg creates an urgency of remembrance in his readers through his literal diction and repetitive syntax style of writing for the purpose of warning mankind that those who do not know their own history are doomed to repeat it, and suffer the same repercussions as before.