Within every individual’s past, or even the past of a nation, there are certain parts that are attempted to be covered up. The desire to disguise the dissatisfactory is partially to blame on human nature. As individuals, no one wants to be looked down on for the negative parts of their past -- the same goes for nations as a whole. To be specific, every nation would like to try and cover up the darkness and the horrendous baggage from war times. No leader, army, or individual would like to discuss the murder and harm done during war. In Carl Sandburg’s poem entitled “Grass,” the idea of covering up the darker parts of the past is presented. Sandburg focuses on World War I (war prior to the poem), and uses the description of grass covering up …show more content…
According to CNN, there has been an average of 1.4 school shootings a week in 2018 alone. However, an abounding amount of these shootings have flown under the radar and haven’t been talked about at all. In Carl Sandburg’s “Grass,” it’s described, “And pile them high at Gettysburg/ And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun,” (lines 4-5). Even though Sandburg is discussing the bodies hidden after times of war, there is an intense similarity with that issue and school shootings. When a school shooting goes undiscussed or uncovered by the news, the bodies and lives of those who were injured or killed are being covered up. However, even when a shooting is covered, such as the shooting in Florida, bodies are still covered. People are arguing about gun violence right now, but give it a few months and it will once again be an undiscussed topic. The lives that were lost and the issues surrounding shootings will just be covered up once again and society will move on. The speaker in Sandburg’s poem explains how people and society forgets the lives lost when it’s exclaimed, “What place is this?/ Where are we now?” (lines 8-9). Schools recover and go back into session after a shooting, leaving students and activists wondering “What happened? Where are we