A Fence by Carl Sandburg

 

Now the stone house on the lake front is finished and the workmen

are beginning the fence.

The palings are made of iron bars with steel points that can stab the

life out of any man who falls on them.

As a fence, it is a masterpiece, and will shut off the rabble and all

vagabonds and hungry men and all wandering children look-

ing for a place to play.

Passing through the bars and over the steel points will go nothing

except Death and the Rain and Tomorrow.

–

“As a fence, it is a masterpiece, and will shut off the rabble and all” – In this line one can see the use of commas to show the irony of calling a fence a masterpiece, both because a fence is usually a common place object and because of the moral and social implication of erecting such a structure as described in this poem. / vagabonds and hungry men and all wandering children look- / ing for a place to play.

The physical structure of the poem also mirrors the fence as described in the poem, “The palings are made of iron bars with steel points that can stab the / life out of any man who falls on them.” All the lines run congruous without separation between the stanzas giving the appearance of bars of a fence. The first line of each stanza pierces the flow of text like the “palings” that jut from the flow of bars “stab[ing] the life out of any man.”

Only the stabbing first lines of each stanza are capitalized. This accentuates the imagery of the stabbing point of each paling. The capital letters act as little arrow heads on the end of the tines.

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