Manufactured Gods
Manufactured Gods - meaning Summary
Idols as Manufactured Comforts
The poem satirizes how people fashion and replace idols to suit changing tastes, arguing that believers accept any manufactured god—big or small, humble or flashy—equally. Sandburg exposes the futility and interchangeability of religious and cultural symbols, and the poem’s blunt voice also records contemptuous attitudes toward the vulnerable groups who adopt these gods. It presents belief as social habit and spectacle rather than spiritual truth.
Read Complete AnalysesTHEY put up big wooden gods. Then they burned the big wooden gods And put up brass gods and Changing their minds suddenly Knocked down the brass gods and put up A doughface god with gold earrings. The poor mutts, the pathetic slant heads, They didn't know a little tin god Is as good as anything in the line of gods Nor how a little tin god answers prayer And makes rain and brings luck The same as a big wooden god or a brass God or a doughface god with golden Earrings.
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