Sandburg, Carl. "Elephants Are Different to Different People".

Summary

Three common men stand in a zoo watching an elephant and each has completely different questions running through his head.

The first man is practical: he asks how the animal is called, where it comes from, what its gender is, who feeds it and how much the food costs, how much the elephant itself costs, and above all what it is good for besides for looking at it.

Another man is a churchgoer: he has no questions. He sees the elephant as a house in itself and as a work of God. He seems to compare the elephant to God when it stands over deep water like a bridge, sad but kind. He knows elephants to be good to babies.

The last man is inarticulate: he only sees the strength of the body and guesses it has a strong heart, as a boiler.

The three men do not care for their different opinions. Each of them has seen the elephant in a different way and they let it go at that. They only tell one another: "Sunday comes only once a week."

Analysis

- free verse, its long lines resemble prose

- celebrates the common man and earth-bound philosophy

- shows the different restrictions and drawbacks of different attitudes

- a simple yet profound conclusion: the men tolerate one another's different views and do not spoil their Sunday (or their lives) with useless arguing