Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SHENANDOAH by CARL SANDBURG

Poet Analysis

First Line: IN THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY, ONE RIDER GREY AND ONE RIDER BLUE, AND
Last Line: HEADS OF A RIDER BLUE AND A RIDER GRAY IN THE SHENANDOAH.
Subject(s): AMERICAN CIVIL WAR; PATRIOTISM; U.S. - HISTORY;
IN the Shenandoah Valley, one rider gray and one rider blue, and the
sun on the riders wondering.

Piled in the Shenandoah, riders blue and riders gray, piled with
shovels, one and another, dust in the Shenandoah taking them quicker
than mothers take children done with play.

The blue nobody remembers, the gray nobody remembers, it's all old and
old nowadays in the Shenandoah.
.....
And all is young, a butter of dandelions slung on the turf, climbing
blue flowers of the wishing woodlands wondering: a midnight purple
violet claims the sun among old heads, among old dreams of repeating
heads of a rider blue and a rider gray in the Shenandoah.




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