"Bronzes"
Below is the poem, with analysis at the bottom.

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                            I

The bronze of General Grant riding a bronze horse in Lin-
   coln Park
Shrivels in the sun by day when the motor cars whirr
   by in long processions going somewhere to keep ap-
   pointment for dinner and matinees and buying and
   selling
Through the dusk the nightfall when high waves are
   piling
On the slabs of the promenade along the lake shore near
   by
I have seen the general dare the combers come closer
And make to ride his bronze horse out into the hoofs
   and guns of the storm.

                            II

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 new-
   sies 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, Shakepeare seated with
   long legs in a 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.

A Student's Analysis

In this poem, Sandburg focuses on two images and attempts to bring them to life.  The first focuses on General Grant's bronze statue in Lincoln Park (on the north side of the city).  Grant is forever remembered in his statue but most people pass by without paying much attention ("...to keep appointment for dinner and matinees…" lines 6-7).  But there's the sense that the statue is alive at night when storms are coming and Grant is believed to challenge the storms.

The second part of the poem focuses on Lincoln and brings him to life through the description of him hearing the news of all the men who have died in battle.

In both cases, Sandburg turns statues that we normally look at and then move on into lifelike statues that will always be around.  With this in mind, we can stop and view them as living and breathing parts of Chicago.

This website is a student project created for the University of Michigan's English 280 class.  Created by Chris Stallman