Analysis of the poem "Prayer of Steel" by Carl Sanburg

Prayer of Steel Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) Lay me on an anvil, O God Beat me and hammer me into a crowbar. Let me pry loose old walls. Let me lift and loosen old foundations Lay me on an anvil, Oh God. Beat me and hammer me into a steel spike. Drive me into the girders that hold a skyscraper together. Take red-hot rivets and fasten me into the central girders. Let me be the great …

…give emphasis to the task of reconstruction, which follows and is, of course, more important than that of demolition. The last line, which is the longest, shows the full outpour of the speaker's emotions, as we have discussed. The sound devices used in the second stanza, especially assonances, also outnumber those used in the first. Thus, the consistent multi-leveled pattern of repetition/parallelism found within and between the stanzas provide overall cohesion for the poem.