Behind the Words of Carl Sandburg: A Rhetorical Analysis

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Behind the Words of Carl Sandburg: A Rhetorical Analysis Kristine Weinberger

University of Nebraska Kearney

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"The past is a bucket of ashes" Carl Sandburg

Abstract The intent of this paper is to analyze the poem Four Preludes of Plaything on the Wind by Carl Sandburg as a rhetorical artifact of American society. It is a long held belief that the purpose of rhetoric is to persuade the audience, however, the power of rhetoric lay in the minds of the audience. It is the carefully crafted artifact that allows an author to not persuade an audience's mind but to open their minds to change. Foss and Griffin (1995) coined the term invitational rhetoric as a modern spin on rhetoric. It is the invitation into the author's world, to see it as they do, which is the focus of this paper. Who, then, is Sandburg inviting into his world? , how does he invite them through lines of a poem, and finally does he succeed? This is to say, does Sandburg's rhetoric draw the audience in to look beyond the words? The following paper attempts to answer these questions, and to discover Sandburg's world through his words. Introduction

The measure of a great writer, is the message that goes beyond the page. It is what is said not in the sentences that fill the paper but what is said as the word leaves the readers lips and transcend into meaning that travels across time and space. Aristotle believed that "the act of a poet is that of an orator, to argue a case" (as cited in Herrick 2013). It is therefore, fitting to look at a poem by Carl Sandburg, and measure it against what Socrates defined as "the art of influencing the soul through words" (Herrick 2013), it is by this definition of rhetoric, that one

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can see the connection between the two. It is the unassuming innocence of a poem that can be a prolific in its persuasive manner. Identity and social meaning are constructed and defined by culture. The use of artifacts and symbols within a society become the mode of transmission for both meaning and identity. Therefore, by utilizing textual analysis of a poem, one can discover what a culture accepts, rejects, and conforms to. The storytelling of a poem becomes a narrative of culture. The key to any great work of art is to look past what we see, and look beneath the surface of word. This is where we can discover significance and ourselves.

The poem Four Preludes of Plaything on the Wind by Carl Sandburg is worth studying using rhetorical devices to dissect the dialogue down to its barest bones. It is there we find a glimpse of our society that is worth taking a second look at. Text is the remaining artifact which survives the past and can tell us of our futures, if we choose to listen. It is in words that history can manifest itself and repeat itself. Therefore, a skilled rhetorician will open the audience's eyes but it is up to audience to see it for what it is. If the significance of a rhetorical poem is the effect long after the last stanza; it would only be fitting to include the poem in its entirety at the beginning of this paper. It is in the hope of this author that as you read my words, you are still haunted by Sandburg's.

Four Preludes on Playthings in the Wind

THE WOMAN named To-morrow sits with a hairpin in her teeth and takes her time and does her hair the way she wants it and fastens at last the last braid and coil and puts the hairpin where it belongs and turns and drawls: Well, what of it? My grandmother, Yesterday, is gone. What of it? Let the dead be dead.

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The doors were cedar and the panels strips of gold and the girls were golden girls and the panels read and the girls chanted: We are the greatest city, the greatest nation: nothing like us ever was.

The doors are twisted on broken hinges. Sheets of rain swish through on the wind where the golden girls ran and the panels read: We are the greatest city, the greatest nation, nothing like us ever was.

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It has happened before. Strong men put up a city and got a nation together, And paid singers to sing and women to warble: We are the greatest city, the greatest nation, nothing like us ever was.

And while the singers sang and the strong men listened and paid the singers well and felt good about it all, there were rats and lizards who listened and the only listeners left now are ... the rats ... and the lizards.

And there are black crows crying, "Caw, caw," bringing mud and sticks building a nest over the words carved on the doors where the panels were cedar and the strips on the panels were gold and the golden girls came singing: We are the greatest city, the greatest nation: nothing like us ever was.

The only singers now are crows crying, "Caw, caw," And the sheets of rain whine in the wind and doorways. And the only listeners now are ... the rats ... and the lizards.

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The feet of the rats scribble on the door sills; the hieroglyphs of the rat footprints chatter the pedigrees of the rats and babble of the blood and gabble of the breed of the grandfathers and the great-grandfathers of the rats.

And the wind shifts and the dust on a door sill shifts and even the writing of the rat footprints tells us nothing, nothing at all about the greatest city, the greatest nation where the strong men listened and the women warbled: Nothing like us ever was.

"Yesterday and Tomorrow cross and mix on the skyline. The two are lost in a purple haze. One

forgets, one waits." Sandburg

Context

According to Kinneavy "a piece of discourse must be judged against the culture and

situational context in which it was produced and in which it is being interpreted" (1969 p.300) by

this standard one must look at the time period which prompted Sandburg to write the poem. The

poem was written in 1922. Sandburg was a seasoned worker by the time he was thirteen, leaving

eighth grade to pursue other interests that included brick layer, milk delivery and by seventeen a

hobo who traveled extensively. It was in his travels that he became aware of the stark difference

between the rich and the poor, this later would instill in him a distrust in capitalism. In 1898, he

enlisted in the war efforts in the Spanish American war. When he returned to the United States

he attended college, this became the defining time in his life as an emerging poet. He adopted a

socialist view and wrote pamphlets for the Social Democratic party.

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In 1914, Europe was at war although America remained neutral until 1917. The neutral stance signified the tradition of the inward view that the United States had held throughout history. Although the U.S. was built on immigrants, it was the belief of both politicians and the public that the best interest of the country was to do nothing, except trade war supplies to both sides. As the U.S. joined the war, the home front was faced with sacrifice and war propaganda. It was during this period that Sandburg began to take interest in the American public.

The experiences of wartime undoubtedly had an effect on Sandburg's poetry, however, it was the Roaring Twenties that became the backdrop for the poem `Four Preludes'. The war had ended, the U.S. had survived an influenza epidemic, and the 20's would be a time of dramatic change in the country. The 1920's was termed the Age of Intolerance and the Age of Wonderful Nonsense, it was the beginning of modern America. President Wilson coined the phrase" return to normalcy" as the emphasis once again became U.S interests first. Amendment 18 prohibited alcohol which lead to speakeasies and gangsters. Flappers become iconic figures of the time, as young women wore short skirts, bobbed hair and makeup. It was a time of good times. America became the richest country in the world, and the culture of consumerism was born. The assembly line was created, roads were built, and people flocked to cities. We were the greatest nation.

Rhetorical Tools for Analysis "I've written some poetry I don't understand myself. " Sandburg

The methods by which I deconstruct the poem rely on the foundation of classical rhetoric. Homeric's writing in Enos believed the capacity for discovery (heuristic), to captivate or motivate (eristic), and to direct human thought (protreptic) were the foundation of language

7 (Herrick 2013). This is the power of rhetoric that transpires as the word leaves the page "readers are prompted to participate with the printed word through interpretation and choice" (Muzzilo 2010). The use of rhetorical devices such as argument, appeals, and arrangement (Herrick 2013) make Sandburg's poem much more than an appeal to what Socrates termed pathos or emotional appeal (Herrick 2013) but a call to not simply react but act. Though it is much more than dissecting a poem as discourse is what builds identity, society, and power (Foucault 1966), therefore, analysis through functional semantics provides further insight into the meaning behind the words. As seen in the poem, the representation of people, social divides, and the sense making of society is all developed through discourse. Functional semantics as suggested by Halliday (2003) is the "interpersonal component of meaning as the component that produces the social interaction in text "or in simpler terms the "production and interpretation of meaning beyond the sentence (Pierce 1977). The words interact on the page but off the page as well, this is why what we see on the page is not as important as what we see when we look away.

The Art of Rhetoric Poetry is the opening and closing of a door, leaving those who look through to guess what was seen during a moment. Sandburg

If Sandburg's poetry opened the door, inviting the audience to look, it is the title of the poem itself that turns the symbolic door knob. The title "Four Preludes of Playthings on the Wind" suggest `playthings' are those less the important things in life. It is a pretense to a poem

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of folly of things that come and go with a breeze. It is only after reading the poems in it's entirely that the audience sees that on a macro level it is construction and destruction of a society. What is even more disturbing is that is a democratic society that too closely resembles our beloved America for comfort.

Stanza One

The Woman named To- morrow Sits with a hairpin in her teeth And takes her time And does her hair the way she wants And fastens at last the last braid and coil And puts the hairpin where it belongs And turns and drawls "Well, what of it?" My grandmother, Yesterday, is gone. What of it? Let the dead be dead. The poem begins with personification of the past and present. It is the question posed by Tomorrow "well what of it?" My grandmother, Yesterday, is gone. "what of it?" which denotes one theme of Sandburg's words. The repetition of the nonchalant view of the future regarding the past, the very history that created her, is the question that will never be answered in Sandburg's eye. It is not simply giving human qualities to nonhuman objects or ideas such as the past and present but it is the unflattering yet accurate description Sandburg gives of the future. Future takes her time in a very selfish manner to present herself properly. The irony is that as Future takes her time, she should know by her dead grandmother that time is one thing she does not have. The return to `normalcy' that President Wilson emphasized is evident in the future as seen in the poem. It is the looking inward with little regard to the outside world which becomes the selfish and superficial way of the Roaring Twenties and beyond. It is a reoccurring theme of

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