Techniques of Carl Sandburg in "Chicago Poems"
Carl Sandburg, one of America's most beloved poets, was born in 1878 in Galesburg, Illinois. Born poor to Swedish immigrants, Sandburg grew up to live the American dream. In 1951, Sandburg won the Pulitzer Prize for his book Complete Poems, which is a collection of six volumes of poetry including a New Section of seventy-four poems not previously included. He moved to Chicago in 1913 and began to write a series of poems about the Chicago life style. His first poem to gain recognition was "Chicago," which appeared in the magazine Poetry in 1914. "Chicago," one of Sandburg's most celebrated poems, portrays the faults of mid-western metropolis while depicting the everyday urban experience. He went on to write many more poems focused on the society of Chicago. This group of poems came to be known as Chicago Poems. In this section, Sandburg uses the techniques of unrhymed free verse and imagism to establish himself as a realist concerned with the energy and brutality of urban industrial life. "...they tell me you are brutal...And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them: Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and co
Stephen Vincent Benet, "Carl Sandburg--Poet of the Prairie People," in New York Herald Tribune Books, August 23, 1936, pgs. 1-2. "It is unfair to pick bits out of a poem that owes it's power to it's mass" (Benet pg.2) In other words, this essay cannot reflect Sandburg's true genius for writing poetry. It has only been able to capture an inkling of Sandburg's timeless Chicago Poems. To understand the true meaning of his poetry we must read them all (There are a total of 150 Chicago Poems). Each and every one of his poems are connected somehow to one another. Sandburg's poetry without a doubt contains imagism, and realistic views pertaining to the energy and brutality of urban industrial life. Sandburg, Carl. Complete Poems. New York: Brace And Company, 1950.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1192
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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