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"A Child Said What is the Grass?" by Walt Whitman
analyzed by: Alicia Pho and Kyla Nguyen

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2. What images does the poet use? How do they relate? (patterns, motifs)

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2. What images does the poet use? How do they relate? (patterns, motifs)

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The images of nature are very prominent in this poem, it connects to the idea that there’s a cycle between life and death. The poet used the phrases like, “The grass is very dark to be from the white heads of old mothers.” Using the images of grass and the natural scenery better helps us comprehend the idea of rebirth. The grass symbolizes how the cycle of life is so essential, as to how grass regrows no matter how many times it gets chopped off. In the beginning, after the child asked “what is grass?” the mother turns to the thought, “How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he does.” represent that the mother is just as lost, not fully understanding the reason for death. The phrase, “out of hopeful green stuff woven.” is a clear comparison between the grass and nature to himself. As humans pass away, rebirth quickly comes after. These imagery descriptions create a motif that appears throughout the poem, and in this the motif tends to be the way the cycle of life is portrayed.

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4. What is the theme (the central idea) of this poem? Can you state it in a single sentence? Elaborate on your idea.

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4. What is the theme (the central idea) of this poem? Can you state it in a single sentence? Elaborate on your idea.

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The theme of this poem is evolved around the meaning of life and death, and their repeating cycle. The author states, “Or I guess the grass is itself a child, the produced babe of vegetation.” This suggests that grass is compared to the nature of death and is like a newborn child, a new adventure to start and develop as the sprout continues to grow. He’s trying to explain this concept to the child, while trying not to scare him at the same time. The end of life is still a new start to death. Later on in the poem, the author also says, “And it means, Sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow zones,/Growing among black folks as among white.” This means that everyone will eventually have to face death, and it comes upon everyone at some point. It is not something we should be afraid of, but rather think of it as a new beginning.

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The tone of the poem is stirring and somewhat innocent, it deals with the perspective of life and that can come off as inspirational. By using the perspective of a child, it presents the information in a poetic way. The line, “And it means, sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow zones.” This creates a symbolism between the different ways people grow up to be, going in a variety of paths and directions. Whitman uses this innocent and hopeful tone to convey the meaning of the cycle of life and death. While linking it to the purpose of how nature associates with death. As the poem progresses, the line, “And now it seems to me, the beautiful uncut hair of graves.” merges together the meaning of the poem and adds to the tone well. Overall, the tone provided a clear idea of what the poet was trying to convey about the idea of life and death.

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3. What figures of speech are used? How do they contribute to the tone and meaning of the poem?

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3. What figures of speech are used? How do they contribute to the tone and meaning of the poem?

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Whitman constantly uses metaphors throughout the whole poem. The most important one that is constantly referred to is the comparison of grass to the concept of death. For example, the first two lines state, “A child said, What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands. How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he.” The author cannot answer this question because he has yet to experience the journey of death in his life. Another example of his metaphors are, “Darker than the colorless beards of old men, dark to come from under the faint red roofs of mouth.” In these two lines, he compares the darkness of grass to beards and roofs of mouths, which also provides imagery and allows readers to understand the degree of darkness.

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A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands;
How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he.

I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful green stuff woven.

Or I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord,
A scented gift and remembrancer designedly dropt,
Bearing the owner's name someway in the corners, that we may see and remark, and say Whose?

Or I guess the grass is itself a child, the produced babe of the vegetation.

Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic,
And it means, Sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow zones,
Growing among black folks as among white,
Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff, I give them the same, I receive them the same.

And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves.

Tenderly will I use you curling grass,
It may be you transpire from the breasts of young men,
It may be you are from old people, or from offspring taken,
It may be if I had known them I would have loved them, soon out of their mothers' laps,
And here you are the mothers' laps.

This grass is very dark to be from the white heads of old mothers,
Darker than the colorless beards of old men,
Dark to come from under the faint red roofs of mouths.

O I perceive after all so many uttering tongues,
And I perceive they do not come from the roofs of mouths for nothing.

I wish I could translate the hints about the dead young men and women,
And the hints about old men and mothers, and the offspring taken soon out of their laps.
What do you think has become of the young and old men?
And what do you think has become of the women and children?

They are alive and well somewhere,
The smallest sprout shows there is really no death,
And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not wait at the end to arrest it,
And ceas'd the moment life appear'd.

All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,
And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.