Carl Sandburg, Ambrose Bierce, Stephen

Carl Sandburg, Ambrose Bierce, Stephen Crane, And Arthur Miller Questions Answered

Carl Sandburg's poem, "Prairie Waters at Night" emphasizes the theme of the tranquility of waters at night. Sandburg captures the still and calming effects of this scene by using repetition, alliteration, and sentence length, the poet is able to convey the sensations of a calming night by the water through sound.

One example of repetition can be seen with the letter s. The poet uses the words raises, song, sheer, waters, russet, drowse, shoulders, sleep, and stony force us to read the poem slowly. In this way, the poet is not only slowing down our reading of the poem but also our mind. This slow motion is meant to remind us of a calm and peaceful setting. The sound of the letter s can also be associated with the sound of running water.

At the beginning of the poem, the poet also introduces us to "two chattering birds" (Sandburg 1) whose song joins the litany of the water. the't sounds repeated reminds us of chatter and the word chatter is onomatopoeia. The poet allows this sound to continue throughout the poem by gently reminding us that there is a faint chattering in the background.

Alliteration is also a technique that Sandburg utilizes successfully in this poem. The sound of the letter l is particularly effective in that it has a hypnotic quality about it. In the words willows, and laughter, we get a feeling of relaxation and ease associated with this scene. The vowel sound in the words long and drowse are also a form alliteration that forces to read the poem slowly. Another technique of sound that the poet uses is long sentences and line lengths. In this way, he forces us to read the sentences slowly, which reinforces the slow, tranquil mood he is trying to convey.

Ambrose Bierce's short story, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek," illustrates the power of the narrator's point-of-view. In this story, Bierce's style is powerful but more importantly, it is extremely engaging. His technique begins by engaging us with the first lines of the story when we read that a man is on bridge "looking into the swift waters twenty feet below" (Bierce 92). The story is also interesting when we become aware of what is going on. This man is facing his death and fantasizing about escaping. The achievement of Bierce's narrative style lies in his superb attention to detail. Bierce foreshadows this dream-like experience by having Farquhar imagine freeing his hands and throwing off the noose around his neck. He thinks, "By diving, I could evade the bullets, and, swimming vigorously, reach the bank, take to the woods, and get away home" (94). While we are not aware of it at this point, we become eventually become aware of the fact that what Farquhar is simply dreaming to be free. However, Bierce's style keeps this a secret so that we are believing along with Farquhar.

At the moment when Farquhar should experience death from hanging, he instead "awakens" to a pain in his neck and how his feelings "were unaccompanied by thought" (96). Bierce continues with the story by making us believe that Farquhar has hit the water alive. To make this scene seem even more realistic, Bierce has us go through every moment with Farquhar, including his immediate instinct to break free. At this point in the story, we do not question if Farquhar is alive but only if he will survive his fall in the water. Bierce keeps us engaged by focusing on the elements of Farquhar's immediate and overwhelming sensations. For example, as he swims up to the surface of the water, we are told that he is "preternaturally keen and alert" (97). Furthermore, we are also aware of all of the minute details that Farquhar becomes aware of as he makes his way through the woods. He sees the "veining of each leaf," and the "insects upon them, the locusts, the brilliant-bodied flies" (97). These details allow us to believe that Farquhar is not dreaming or hallucinating. We are convinced of this fact because of his acute attention to details as well the experience itself. For instance, Farquhar is aware that people are shooting at him and that he must get away from them. When he reaches land, he drives his fingers into the earth because he cannot believe his luck.

Bierce extends this experience by having Farquhar make his way through the woods able to carry on by the mere thought of his wife and children. These thoughts and feelings seem so real that we do not consider that Farquhar might be having a vivid dream. For example, we read that "objects were represented by their colors only; circular horizontal streaks of color -- that was all he saw" (98). In addition, we know that he feels as though he had been pulled into a vortex and was "being whirled on with a velocity of advance and gyration which made him giddy and sick" (98). Interestingly, this trip through the woods lasts all day and into the evening ade Farquhar eventuallybecomes "fatigued, footsore, famishing" (99). He sees the stars overhead and even begins to believe that they are "arranged in some order which had a secret and malign significance" (99). Closer to the end of this dream, his neck becomes sore and "horribly swollen" (99) and he can no longer feel the earth beneath his feet. At this point, he falls asleep in the dream, which is actually the very moment of his death. Bierce's storytelling technique is unique in that while we think it is building toward suspense of freedom, it is actually recounting a dream that only flashes in Farquhar's mind in the split second he has just before his death.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, the Red Badge of Courage, the significance of the narrative allows us to see the story of the youth as well as understand the war itself. It also allows Crane to present his idea of the truth in his own way and because Henry's impressions are in third person, they allow him to develop. Early in the novel, Henry does not know exactly what to think about the war. He thinks that is must be "some sort of a play affair" (Crane 4) that was similar to a "Greeklike struggle" (4). When he decides to enlist against his mother's wishes, we read that he is aroused to an "uncheckable degree" (4). We also know that his mother disappointed him because she did not tell him to return. Instead, she tells him to take good care of himself, which destroys his plans for a beautiful last scene with his mother. This unsettling reaction is one that sets the mood and tone for the rest of the novel. We see in many ways how Henry's impressions about war are not as he expected and the limited omniscient view allow us to see how Henry develops throughout the course of the novel.

Because of his narrative style, Crane is able to give us details about scenery and action along with Henry's personal emotions. For example, when Henry encounters the group of wounded soldiers, we are able to see what he sees. One man had a "shoeful of blood. He hopped like a schoolboy in a game" (57) and another one has "seal of death already upon his face. His lips were curled in hard lines and his teeth were clenched" (58). The face of death and injury has a powerful impact on Henry. As he walks with the soldiers, he secretly wishes that, like them, he had "a little red badge of courage" (61) to account for his war experience. In this scene, Crane's writing technique allows us to know how Henry is thinking as well as see how his experience impacts him. We gain a greater understanding of the situation because we are aware the external elements as well as Henry's thoughts. Later, Henry's experience with the man in the forest changes him as well. Crane describes how the man leads Henry through "mazes of the tangles forest with a strange fortune" (84). The obstacles they encountered became instruments of "assistance" (84). The man leads him back to his regiment and we read that a "warm and strong had" (85) clasped Henry's and as the man turned away, Henry could hear him whistling. In this moment, Henry realizes that he had never seen the man's face. This scene shows how the external elements of the novel help us understand Henry's place in the forest.

When he witnessing battle, we are told that the "fighters resembled animals tossed for a death struggle in to a dark pit. There was a feeling that he and his fellows, at bay, were pushing aback, always pushing fierce onsloughts of creatures who were slippery" (110). These scenes allow us to see how Crane's narrative style helps us see how Henry begins to change as a result of what he experiences. In a fighting scene, we see how he is filled with an "intense hate" (111) and when he "was firing, when all those near him had ceased. He was so engrossed in his occupation that he was not aware of a lull" (111). After this incident, Henry throws himself down "like a man who had been thrashed" (111). Those around him saw him as "a war devil" (112).

Here we see how Henry has an animal instinct to fighting and it makes him look like a madman. Here we get an example of how we are aware of Henry's thoughts and feelings as well as what is going on around him. Crane also allows us to see the reactions of those around him to emphasize what it is that Henry is experiencing. By leaving the narrative to Henry's experiences alone, we are more apt to believe that it really happened to him.

In addition, when Henry does earn his "badge" it is not in the most noble of ways. However, Crane allows us to see how Henry has been changed by the overall event of the war -- not just by winning his badge. We read that Henry "felt a quiet manhood, non-assertive but of sturdy and strong blood... He had been in touch with the great death... He was a man" (154). In this passage, Crane is telling us how Henry has evolved. Witnessing war was one thing but surviving it was another. He smiles because he knows that the world is waiting for him now that the nightmare of war is over. We read that Henry can gaze into the future "with a lover's thirst to images of tranquil skies, fresh meadows, cool brooks -- an existence of soft and eternal peace" (155). An interesting aspect about this scene is that it can be interpreted with a certain amount of irony. Because of Crane's writing style, we are left to make this decision on our own.