Juliane Dormuth, Lilith Schöckel

1918 Henry Holt and Company - Cornhuskers
Carl August Sandburg
 * * January 6, 1887 in Galesburg (Illinois)
 * † July 22, 1967 in Falt Rock (North Carolina)
 * American poet, writer and editor
 * swedish ancestry
 * at the age of thirteen he left school ► different jobs
 * was stationed in Puerto Rico during the Spanish- American War
 * never actually called to battle
 * joined the Social Democratic Party
 * supported the Civil Right Movement
 * married Lilian Steichen ► 3 daughters

Background information: - Major battle of Napoleonic wars (1805)
 * Austerlitz (Czech Republic)

- Napoleon's army vs. Russians and Austrians

- 25,000 men died - Final battle of Napoleonic wars (1815)
 * Waterloo (Belguim)

- 60,000 men died - Major battle of the US Civil War (1863)
 * Gettysburg (Pennsylvania)

- 50,000 men died - The site of three major World War I battles (1914,1915,1917)
 * Ypres (Belguim)

- 850,000 men died - World War I battle (1916)
 * Verdun (France)

- French vs. Germans

- 700,000 men died

Translation:

Stapelt die Berge von Leichen bei Austerlitz und Waterloo,

Grabt sie ein und lasst mich arbeiten.

- Ich bin das Gras. Ich decke zu.

Stapelt Berge bei Gettysburg,

Stapelt Berge bei Ypern und Verdun.

Grapt sie ein und lasst mich arbeiten.

Zwei Jahre, zehn Jahre, und Reisende fragen den Schaffner:

Welcher Ort ist das?

Wo sind wir hier?

Ich bin das Gras.

Lasst mich arbeiten.

Form &Meter: Stylistic devices: Interpretation: After a battle, the grass wants to get to work and "cover all": all of the signs of death
 * compact poem
 * written in simple words expressing a profound message
 * no poetry rules
 * free verse --> no regular rhyme schemes or meter
 * Grass is personified
 * Lines 1-6:

and destruction from bloody battles and dead bodies. The grass is succesful in its work; train passengers travelling by battlefields, have no idea that
 * Lines 7-9:

they're seeing battlefields. The grass repeats its line "let me work".
 * Lines 10-11:

The humans work is now to remember the battlefields in ways the grass can't.