Carl Sandburgs View of Language Essay -- Poem Poet Essays

Carl Sandburgs View of LanguageCarl Sandburgs verse form Languages is a poem nigh how wordss can change over time. On the surface level, it compares the evolution of spoken communication to the formation of a river. At the same time, however, it makes a statement on why languages are difficult to label and mark. The lines dividing languages blur very easily.Languages in that respect are no handles upon a languageWhereby men take keep going of itAnd mark it with signs for its remembrance.It is a river, this language,Once in a thousand wide timeBreaking a impertinently courseChanging its way to the ocean.It is atomic pile effluviaMoving to valleysAnd from nation to nationCrossing borders and mixing.Languages die like rivers. language wrapped round your tongue todayAnd broken to shape of sightBetween your teeth and lips speakingNow and todayShall be ill-defined hieroglyphicsTen thousand geezerhood from now.Sing-and singing-rememberYour song dies and changesAnd is non here tomorrowAny more than the windBlowing ten thousand years agoneThe first three lines of the poem talk about how man has no firm grip on language. It is clearly not a natural thing to be grasped, and it cannot be marked as such. There is an accessory between men and language, but it is not clear. This whitethorn be a statement on the many different languages humans speak. It may not be clear when a language has completely changed into something different, or when it is plainly a different dialect. It is hard to tell where the boundaries are, which is why it is described as having no handles for men to take hold of and mark it with signs for its remembrance. These difficulties arise because precisely what makes a language is difficult to determine. Sometimes it can be... ...guage dies.In its entirety, this poem describes how a language can evolve or die, and how things said in this language can change or die with it. Boundaries between languages may not be clear. Like riv ers they can travel close together, or merge completely. All languages, however, act as rivers. They start at a source and travel. They then travel, merge, or fade away. Upon closer examination, the poem likewise says why languages are difficult to label. The reason is that they change with time. The English language of today is not the same English language spoken hundreds of years ago. As all languages evolve similarly, this applies to all languages. Subtle changes in gestures, writing, or spoken language eventually add up. After a long enough period of time it is as though an entirely new language has formed, but kept the same name as the antecedent language.