Bronzes
The bronze General Grant riding a bronze horse in Lincoln ParkShrivels in the sun by day when the motor cars whirr by in long processions going somewhere to keep appointment for dinner and matinées and buying and sellingThough in the dusk and nightfall when high waves are pilingOn the slabs of the promenade along the lake shore near byI have seen the general dare the combers come closerAnd make to ride his bronze horse out into the hoofs and guns of the storm.
I cross Lincoln Park on a winter night when the snow is falling.Lincoln in bronze stands among the white lines of snow, his bronze forehead meeting soft echoes of the newsies crying forty thousand men are dead along the Yser, his bronze ears listening to the mumbled roar of the city at his bronze feet.A lithe Indian on a bronze pony, Shakespeare seated with long legs in bronze, Garibaldi in a bronze cape, they hold places in the cold, lonely snow to-night on their pedestals and so they will hold them past midnight and into the dawn.
Words in this poem
- whirr v. i.
- To whirl round, or revolve, with a whizzing noise; to fly or more quickly with a buzzing or whizzing sound; to whiz.
- somewhere adv.
- In some place unknown or not specified; in one place or another.
- nightfall n.
- The close of the day.
- promenade n.
- A walk for pleasure, display, or exercise. Burke. [F. (with a foreign suffix), from promener to lead, take for a walk, se promener to walk, from L. prominare to drive forward or along; pro forward + minare to dr]
- closer n.
- One who, or that which, closes; specifically, a boot closer. See under Boot.
- lithe v. i.
- To listen or listen to; to hearken to. P. Plowman. [Icel Listen.]
- garibaldi n.
- A jacket worn by women; -- so called from its resemblance in shape to the red shirt worn by the Italians patriot Garibaldi.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Bronzes is in the public domain. This text is taken from Chicago Poems, Wikisource; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Carl Sandburg, Bronzes, in Chicago Poems (1916), text of Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sandburg-chicago-poems/bronzes.html, id L28899.
Form and metre
Bronzes is 9 lines in 2 stanzas.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The bronze General Grant riding a bronze horse in Lincoln Park | 15 | ··/˘˘·/˘····/˘· |
| Shrivels in the sun by day when the motor cars whirr by in long processions going somewhere to keep appointment for dinner and matinées and buying and selling | 40 | /˘·······/˘·····˘/˘/˘/···˘/˘·/˘····/˘·/˘ |
| Though in the dusk and nightfall when high waves are piling | 13 | ·····/·····/˘ |
| On the slabs of the promenade along the lake shore near by | 15 | ······˘/˘/····· |
| I have seen the general dare the combers come closer | 14 | ····/˘˘··/˘·/˘ |
| And make to ride his bronze horse out into the hoofs and guns of the storm. | 17 | ················· |
| I cross Lincoln Park on a winter night when the snow is falling. | 16 | ··/˘···/˘·····/˘ |
| Lincoln in bronze stands among the white lines of snow, his bronze forehead meeting soft echoes of the newsies crying forty thousand men are dead along the Yser, his bronze ears listening to the mumbled roar of the city at his bronze feet. | 58 | /˘············/˘/˘·/˘··/˘/˘/˘/˘···˘/······/˘˘··/˘···/˘···· |
| A lithe Indian on a bronze pony, Shakespeare seated with long legs in bronze, Garibaldi in a bronze cape, they hold places in the cold, lonely snow to-night on their pedestals and so they will hold them past midnight and into the dawn. | 58 | ··/˘˘···/˘/·/˘······˘/˘······/˘···/˘·····/˘˘·······/······ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.