Wars
Wars - context Summary
Published After World War I
Published in 1920 in Smoke and Steel, Sandburg's poem presents three stages of warfare—old, new, and future—contrasting cavalry and blades with motors, long-range guns, and imagined silent mechanisms. It stresses increasing mechanization, scale, and depersonalization as kings or causes drive ever-larger masses of men. The repeated progression warns that technological and social changes reshape violence in ways not yet conceived by humankind.
Read Complete AnalysesIn the old wars drum of hoofs and the beat of shod feet. In the new wars hum of motors and the tread of rubber tires. In the wars to come silent wheels and whirr of rods not yet dreamed out in the heads of men. In the old wars clutches of short swords and jabs into faces with spears. In the new wars long range guns and smashed walls, guns running a spit of metal and men falling in tens and twenties. In the wars to come new silent deaths, new silent hurlers not yet dreamed out in the heads of men. In the old wars kings quarreling and thousands of men following. In the new wars kings quarreling and millions of men following. In the wars to come kings kicked under the dust and millions of men following great causes not yet dreamed out in the heads of men.
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