Carl Sandburg
What is the meaning of the poem, “Monotone” by Carl Sandburg?
“Monotone” by Carl Sandburg
The monotone of the rain is beautiful,
And the sudden rise and slow relapse
Of the long multitudinous rain.
The sun on the hills is beautiful,
Or a captured sunset sea-flung,
Bannered with fire and gold.
A face I know is beautiful–
With fire and gold of sky and sea,
And the peace of long warm rain.
As you probably know, a monotone is a sound that doesn’t change; it doesn’t get faster or slower or higher or deeper; it just stays steadily the same. So the poem is about something that persists, something that endures, something that remains the same.
The first three lines of the poem say that the rain is beautiful when it falls at a steady rate, making the same consistent sound, and it’s also beautiful when it changes, when it pours more fiercely for a while, and then gradually slows down.
The next three lines say that the steady, long-lasting sunlight shining all day long on the hills is beautiful, and the brief, dramatic, fast-changing sunset over the ocean is also beautiful.
So the first two stanzas of the poem talk about how nature is beautiful when it’s steady and consistent, and also beautiful when it goes through various changes.
In the final three lines, the poem shifts from talking about nature to talking about an individual human being. Those lines say, “The face of the person I love is beautiful when it’s full of dramatic, emotional changes, and it’s also beautiful when it’s calm and peaceful.”
So this is a love poem. It uses the beauty of nature, which is sometimes changing and sometimes unchanging, but always beautiful, to represent the beauty of a beloved human being. Ultimately, the monotone, the one unchanging thing that the poem expresses, is love for that person.
What’s my Line? Carl Sandburg
Tags: carl, carl sandburg, carl sandburg chicago, carl sandburg college, carl sandburg grass, carl sandburg poems, chicago, poem, poetry, sandburg
This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 at 2:44 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.