CHAPTER I

The Poem
Splinter by Carl Sandburg
The voice of the last cricket
Across the first frost
Is one kind of good-by.
It is so thin a splinter of singing.
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
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.
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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
Actually I slight confused to make this determination, I believe that the structure of this
poem is free verse consisting of lines that dont have a regular meter.
b. Rhyme
As I said before, Carl Sandburg has a clever mind to create an uniforms rhyme.
ABCD; no pattern of rhyme scheme
As we know if rhymes are at the ends of words, such as flute, root, and suit, and
alliteration is at the beginnings of words, then what else could we do with sound? I
think we could repeat vowel and consonant sounds in the middle of words.
Lets try when we repeat a vowel sound, that is called assonance, and when we repeat a
consonant sound, that is called consonance.
We can take an example like fish, dish, and wish are rhymes, but dont be misled because
fish, lift, miss, and blip are assonance.
Thats way I believe Carl Sandburg used assonance in his poem Splinter to describe
the pretty song of the cricket: It is so thin a splinter of singing.
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The words like it, is, thin, splinter, and singing are not rhymes actually because they
dont end the same way. All they do is repeat the i sound, and that is assonance.
Assonance : Assonance takes place when two or more words close to one another repeat
the same vowel sound but start with different consonant sounds.
Assonance could be the repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words. It is used to
reinforce the meanings of words or to set the mood.
c. Stanzaic forms
Sandburg used a Quatrains in his stanzaic form, even though stanza in this poem was
consist of four line. Although theres only one stanza
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.

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. Objective
I think Sandburg divided the lines the way he did to create emphasis and uniqueness
And Im sure the over all mood or emotion for this poem is abit melancholy, yet hopeful.
We could see it has a kind of depressing feeling but hopefully the singing will return
b. Subjective
How about subjectively?, Subjectively, the basis could I consider "Splinter" a poem of
good quality, the meaning is portrayed straightforwardly in only four lines and
it contains a deeper meaning than what is revealed :
The voice of the last cricket
across the first frost
is one kind of good-by.
It is so thin a splinter of singing.
I think the type of this poem is abit Dramatic, surely with relaxed tone, appreciative,
and added by informative tone of voice, and of absolutely we must believe that the most
memorable quote from the poem is "It is so thin a splinter of singing"
c. General Meaning
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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.