Jose Delgado Delgado 1
English 1B
October 7, 2006

Carl Sandburg – Grass Sandburg’s poem Grass is very special if you look at it in an imagery point of view. It starts off very unique with, “Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.” Your first image, even though you might not know what Austerlitz or Waterloo are is that it has to be some sort of battle site since he mentions the pile the bodies. Austerlitz is a battle site that Napoleon Bonaparte was involved in which he basically defeated the Russian and Austrian troops, which historians might say it was one of Napoleon’s greatest victories of his time. Ironically, Waterloo was Napoleon’s last battle as commander of the French which was defeated by Duke of Wellington of England and Gebhard von Blucher of Prussia. In all those places that Carl named, many people lost their life which was an important point Carl is trying to get across. He then mentions Gettysburg, Ypres and Verdun which are also major battle sites that happened in history. Gettysburg was a civil war here in the United States in which it has become a major historic site, as you might know Civil wars cause many casualties and I am guessing that the count of dead bodies is well over the 500,000 mark. Ypres and Verdun are two historic sites in World War where thousands and thousands troops died. Ypres is not a big facility in which the two enemies are trying to take over and the one who takes control might determine who could win the war. With that basically said, Delgado 2 both sides send as many troops as possible which equals a huge casualty count. An estimated 1,000,000 soldiers where dead from both sides from what I remember. Verdun is not far in casualties; Verdun is considered one of the greatest battles ever. If a war site earns a name like that it is easily said that many lives were lost. Many people over time learn about the history of those Austerlitz, Waterloo, Gettysburg, Ypres, and Verdun. They will realize how many people have lost their lives and realize the importance of why they are who they are but in the end those same people will go on about their business without thinking about it. Their children will learn about it as well, and think about it for a few seconds and go on with their lives and so will the grass that grows in those important historic sites. The grass will keep growing without thinking of its importance that of which the soil it grows in. Time passes, grass grows, people will ask in which they will remember the historic importance of the soldiers which have lost their lives and the grass will continue to grow as if nothing has happened but if looked closely at it, it will tell you what the soil beneath it has seen and experienced.