CHAPTER I

The Poem
With blackest moss the flower-plots
Were thickly crusted, one and all:
The rusted nails fell from the knots
That held the pear to the gable-wall.
The broken sheds lookd sad and strange:
Unlifted was the clinking latch;
Weeded and worn the ancient thatch
Upon the lonely moated grange.
She only said, My life is dreary,
He cometh not, she said;
She said, I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!
Her tears fell with the dews at even;
Her tears fell ere the dews were dried;
She could not look on the sweet heaven,
Either at morn or eventide.
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After the flitting of the bats,

When thickest dark did trance the sky,
She drew her casement-curtain by,
And glanced athwart the glooming flats.
She only said, The night is dreary,
He cometh not, she said;
She said, I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!
Upon the middle of the night,
Waking she heard the night-fowl crow:
The cock sung out an hour ere light:
From the dark fen the oxens low
Came to her: without hope of change,
In sleep she seemd to walk forlorn,
Till cold winds woke the gray-eyed morn
About the lonely moated grange.
She only said, The day is dreary,
He cometh not, she said;
She said, I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!
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About a stone-cast from the wall

A sluice with blackend waters slept,
And oer it many, round and small,
The clusterd marish-mosses crept.
Hard by a poplar shook alway,
All silver-green with gnarled bark:
For leagues no other tree did mark
The level waste, the rounding gray.
She only said, My life is dreary,
He cometh not, she said;
She said, I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!
And ever when the moon was low,
And the shrill winds were up and away,
In the white curtain, to and fro,
She saw the gusty shadow sway.
But when the moon was very low,
And wild winds bound within their cell,
The shadow of the poplar fell
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Upon her bed, across her brow.

She only said, The night is dreary,
He cometh not, she said;
She said, I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!
All day within the dreamy house,
The doors upon their hinges creakd;
The blue fly sung in the pane; the mouse
Behind the mouldering wainscot shriekd,
Or from the crevice peerd about.
Old faces glimmerd thro the doors,
Old footsteps trod the upper floors,
Old voices called her from without.
She only said, My life is dreary,
He cometh not, she said;
She said, I am aweary, aweary,
I would that I were dead!

The sparrows chirrup on the roof,

The slow clock ticking, and the sound
Which to the wooing wind aloof
The poplar made, did all confound
Her sense; but most she loathed the hour
When the thick-moted sunbeam lay
Athwart the chambers, and the day
Was sloping toward his western bower.
Then, said she, I am very dreary,
He will not come, she said;
She wept, I am aweary, aweary,
Oh God, that I were dead!
I.1. BACKGROUND
Carl Sandburg was born on January 6, 1878 in Galesburg, Illinois, and was
educated at a public school until he was thirteen. He then worked in odd jobs in
Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado. Encouraged by Professor Philip Green
Wright, Sandburg started to write poetry.
His first book was called In Reckless Ecstasy, and was printed privately in 1940. In
1913 Sandburg moved with his family to a suburb of Chicago, where he worked as
an editor of a business magazine and published articles in the International
Socialist Review. Sandburg also received a Levinson Prize awarded by Poetry in
1914, which established Sandburg as an important new voice in literature.
Sandburg was still unknown to the literary world. Sandburg later published
another volume of poems after his book Chicago Poems was published, called
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Cornhuskers, in 1918, and wrote a searching analysis of the 1919 Chicago race
riots. More poetry followed, along with Rootabaga Stories at 1922, a book of
children's tales. Sandburg's Complete Poems won him a second Pulitzer Prize in
1951. Being an American poet, historian, novelist and folklorist, Sandburg gave
voice to least powerful people in his works.
Playing a central figure in the Chicago Renaissance, Sandburg played a
significant role in the development of poetry taking place during the first two
decades of the 20th century. On July 22, 1967, Sandburg died at his North
Carolina home.

I.2. ASSUMPTION
I think this poem has a problem with the main title. Consists of only one stanza, but it
can mean a lot. Many meanings that can not be expressed simply in this poem.
Sandburg try to bring us lost in all of the choice of words in his poem. As if we
brought to the unconscious to how deeply the meaning of his work.

CHAPTER II
ANALYSIS
In this chapter, I will prove my assumption about the theme of this poem through my analysis
from the elements of analyze poetry

II.1. ANALYSIS SPLINTER POETRY BY THE ELEMENTS OF ANALYZE POETRY

I will start first to analysis this poetry from Basic Versification, as follow:
a. Rhytm and Metric
I think Mariana has a 4 beat line (tetrameter), which is very structured. Rhyme and rhythm
remain constant throughout, emphasising the monotonous life of Mariana and also the repetitive
and cyclical nature of the poem. The structure can be said to almost imprison Mariana within
the poem.
b. Rhyme
Like I was wrote in rhytm section above, I believe Mariana is a lyric poem written in
iambic tetrameter. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDDCEFEF. The poem was composed of
7 12-line stanzas (similar to sonnets - 14 lines).
The poem also uses a number of monosyllabic rhymes throughout, giving it a sort of
dull simplicity and reproducing the monotony of everyday life. It also shows a simplistic

childishness. Thats way it could be used as a symbol of the hopelessness she feels and
Tennysons doubts over his creativeness and ability to live up to the romantic poets.
c. Stanzaic forms
If we talk about stanzaic forms, I think the stanzas are a little more repetitive than indicated
above. The last four lines are always the same (with a very slight variation in the last stanza),
meaning that a third of the poem consists of repetitions of the same four lines.
Therefore the repetition and cycles run clearly throughout the whole poem to represent the
unchanging nature of Marianas life. They exist through the use of the refrain, specific types of
language and the use of poetic structure. Most of the points of this have been made elsewhere
but its probably one of the more important parts of the poem so I thought it deserved its own
section.
d. Figure of Speech
Sandburg used an Alliteration in his poem, in this poem to show how much clever he
was in string up the words, this is my prove :
Assonance, Alliteration, & Consonance in one line
Line 4: "It is so think a splinter of singing"
Line 2: "across the first frost"
Consonance is a pleasing sounding caused by the repetition of consonant sounds within
sentences, phrases, or in poems. Typically this repetition occurs at the end of the words,
but may also be found within a word or at the beginning
Beside alliteration, Sandburg also used Personification in his poem,
I get the connection between the poem and the poet's life and times: I believe many
poems often reflected on how the author viewed and expressed the world around their
life. Most of poetry expressed the hearty, earthy nature of America, finding both soft and
harsh beauty amongst their people.
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Likely, I think Carl Sandburg wrote this poem based upon the lives of people around
him at that time, abit metaphorically expressing that people must move to a new
beginning and leave the past behind.
e. Diction
Carl Sandburg wrote this poem in formal language, he was the poet who still maintain
the correct grammar in his poem. Sometimes being a short poem the vocabulary is
simple to understand
f. Symbol and Allegory
The Cricket is Symbol. Because the Cricket's voice symbolizes a new beginning. Last
song of cricket portrays its last "goodbye" before winter comes
a. Theme

The poem of Mariana can be studies as a mood of despair, we can see the central focus of the
poem lies in the desolate landscape and not in the character of Mariana. Thus the aura of the
poem also veiled with a grave mood of hopelessness.
b. Subjective
How about subjectively?, Subjectively, Im sure Tennyson's language in this poem sets
the tone of melancholy and allows the reader to experience Mariana's wait for her lover
and her hopelessness. Many of Tennyson's poems explore the theme of the dramatic
monologue, a form that explores a character's deepest thoughts and feelings. This
poem, however, while containing elements of the dramatic monologue in its description
of Mariana's emotions, describes those emotions from the third person rather than the
first person point of view.
c. General Meaning

In General meaning, In his poem, Splinter, Im sure Carl Sandburg refers to the last
song of the cricket before winter as a "thin splinter of singing" (line 4).
He rights of one kind of good bye as being the last song of the cricket before winter
comes, like a last minute goodbye to the past so that the next season could come.
I believe the crickets voice there is symbolizes a new beginning. The meaning of the
poem is meant to show that life goes on and that people must move on with it leaving
but memories as thin as splinters.
I also convinced the voice of the last cricket points a new beginning with a silent end.
d. Particular Meaning
In particular meaning, this poem told us about life goes on as change and death comes.
We have to move on with death and realize this life will come to an end one day, whether
it is accept or not
e. Point of View
If we talk about the point of view here, I think Carl Sandburg had a firmly humanistic view
of life. This led Carl Sandburg to placing his faith in people's innate goodness and capacity
to adapt and succeed

A. CONCLUSION
After Ive made my analysis through the elements of analyze poetry and the theme, I
make my decision about the conclusion of this poem. Like I wrote in General meaning
above, Splinter by Carl Sandburg, Im sure he refers to the last song of the cricket before
winter as a "thin splinter of singing". We can imagine he rights of one kind of good bye
as being the last song of the cricket before winter comes, like a last chance goodbye or
farewell to the past so that the next season could come.
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As I have said above I believe the crickets voice there is symbolizes a new beginning.
The meaning of the poem is meant to show that life goes on and that people must move
on with it leaving but memories as thin as splinters. And of course, I also convinced the
voice of the last cricket points a new beginning with a silent ending.
B. SUGGESTION
For me, it is abit hard to give a suggestion about its poem, because Carl Sandburg was a
clever one to made a poem, but I think my suggestion is there isnt a connection between
the stanzaic form with his poem, I got in trouble because there is only one stanza.

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