Grass

Grass

         "Grass" By Carl Sandburg is a free verse poem written in three stanzas, As such it has no rhyme scheme. This poem is short and talks about war and how grass will eventually conquer all battlefields. This poem is written from an unusual perspective, the point of view of grass.
          The first line of the poem is referring to the Napoleonic Wars, specifically all the soldiers who died in the battles of Austerlitz and Waterloo. The second line of the poem "Shovel them under and let me work--" is the grass telling living to bury the bodies and let it work. The grass' "work" being to cover the fields and to erase the evidence of war. The last line of the first stanza is the grass stating the eventuality of grass covering everything.
          The first and second lines of the second stanza are referring to the American Civil War, and World War One respectively. The third line of the second stanza is a repetition of the third line of the first stanza "Shovel them under and let me work". However, In the second stanza this line ends in a period, as if the thought is completed. The last three lines of the second stanza informs the reader that as time passes, the grass erases more and more of the past. So much so that passengers on a train ask the conductor "What place is this?/ Where are we now?" It is interesting to note that the passengers questions all refer to the present, and make no reference to the past, which the grass has obscured.
          The final lines of the poem are a deceleration by the grass, answering the questions posed. "I am the grass./ Let me work." As war appears to be inevitable judging from the battles listed, the grass will eternally attempt to heal the wounds inflicted on the landscape. While a poem from the perspective of grass is highly unusual, it is never the less effective and powerful.