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 nail holding a skyscraper together through blue nights into white stars.
A formalist reading of the poem
"Prayer of Steel" is a short poem composed of 9 lines, the ninth being the longest. The cohesive device…
