Carl Sandburg

As I researched Carl Sandburg, I began to find that there were truly many sides to Carl Sandburg. First, he was a poet whose Chicago Poems brought him fame and recognition. He is often associated with the "Chicago Literary Renaissance," which took place in the 1910s and 1920s and included such authors as Theodore Dreiser and Edgar Lee Masters. However, Sandburg never believed he was an author for one place alone and actually termed himself "The Eternal Hobo. " In his poems, however, Sandburg did celebrate the agricultural and industrial life of the common man.

While often criticized for his unrhymed, free-verse style of poetry, Sandburg simply said, "Simple poems for simple folks. " He wrote of the struggle of the working classes and used simple, common language. He has been called Whitman-like, a realist, and an imagist. Second, he was a careful historian whose biographies of Abraham Lincoln are thought by many critics to be the most realistic and accurate. Sandburg had a deep love for Lincoln, but thought prior biographers had portrayed him too idealistically so that he seemed almost unreal.

Sandburg's Abraham Lincoln: The War Years won him his first Pulitzer Prize. Lastly, Sandburg was an activist and a "man of the people. " He believed strongly in workers' rights, and had a great optimism about his ability to change the fates of "common people. " He indicated this politically with his involvement with the Socialist party and, later, with the Democratic party. He also used his poetry to express some of his political views. As stated before, in most of his poems, he celebrated the beauty (and realistically displayed the tragedy) of urban, industrial life.

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Finally, Sandburg was a folk singer and a children's author. As a hobo, he collected folksongs and later, after he gained recognition as a writer, he toured the country with these songs. He also wrote children's stories for his daughters and published several children's works. He truly was a man of the people.

Biographical Sketch

• 1878 January 6-Carl August Sandburg was born to Swedish immigrant parents August and Clara in Galesburg, Illinois. He was the second of seven children.
• 1885 Sandburg insists on being called "Charlie" to avoid discrimination against Swiss people.
• 1891 June-Sandburg drops out of school after completing the 8th grade. Fall-Sandburg begins work at a dairy.
• 1897 Sandburg travels to Kansas as a hobo. This experience allows him to explore folk culture and see the differences between the rich and the poor.
• 1898 Sandburg enlists in the Spanish-American War, and is sent to Puerto Rico, where he serves for eight months. Sandburg returns to Galesburg and enrolls in Lombard College (now called Knox college) while working as a fireman. He attends for four years but never graduates.
• 1904 In Reckless Ecstasy, Sandburg's first volume of poetry, is printed by his professor and mentor Phillip Green Wright. Sandburg learns to play the guitar, which will assist him in his tours of folksongs later in life.
• 1907 Wright prints Incidentals, another volume of Sandburg's poetry. Sandburg moves to Milwaukee and works as an organizer for the Wisconsin Social Democratic party.
• 1908 The Plaint of a Rose, another Sandburg volume, is printed by Wright. Sandburg writes socialist pamphlet You and Your Job June-Sandburg marries Lilian Steichen, whom he met at the Social Democratic party headquarters. She encourages him to restore his true name "Carl. "
• 1910 Sandburg begins work as secretary to the first Socialist mayor of Milwaukee, which he continues until
• 1912. 1911 Sandburg's first child, Margaret, is born. The Sandburgs would go on to have two more daughters, Janet and Helga.
• 1913 Sandburg moves with his family to Chicago (they make their home in Elmhurst). He becomes editor of "System," a business magazine, and works for the "Chicago Daily News"
• 1914 A group of Sandburg's poems appear in the Chicago-based Poetry magazine. Sandburg receives the Levinson prize for his poem Chicago.
• 1915 Sandburg begins contributing to the International Socialist Review.
• 1916 Chicago Poems is published. Sandburg's fame begins to build.
• 1917 Sandburg declares himself a political independent, but continues to associate with the Democratic party.
• 1918 Cornhuskers is published. Sandburg begins writing editorials for the "Chicago Daily News. " He continues with this until 1923.
• 1919 Sandburg writes an analysis of the 1919 Chicago race riots. The Poetry Society of America honors him.
• 1920 Smoke and Steel, Sandburg's poetical ode to industrialism, is published.
• 1921 Sandburg is again honored by The Poetry Society of America.
• 1922 Rootabaga Stories, a children's book written for his three daughters, is published. His editor suggests a children's book on Lincoln.
• 1923 Rootabaga Pigeons is published.
• 1926 Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years is published. This Sandburg's first true financial success.
• 1927 The American Songbag is published, which features folksongs. Sandburg gained recognition as he toured and sang these songs frequently.
• 1928 Good Morning, America is published.
• 1929 Country is published. Sandburg pens a biography of Edward Steichen, a famous photographer and brother of his wife.
• 1930 Potato Face is published.
• 1932 Mary Lincoln, Wife and Widow is published.
• 1936 The People, Yes is published. Sandburg campaigns for Franklin D. Roosevelt's election to the Presidency
• 1939 Abraham Lincoln: The War Years is published.
• 1940 Sandburg is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Abraham Lincoln: The War Years.
• 1943 Home Front Memo is published.
• 1945 The Sandburg family moves to Flat Rock, North Carolina.
• 1948 Sandburg publishes his novel Remembrance Rock
• 1950 The New American Songbag is published. The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg is published.
• 1951 Sandburg wins a second Pulitzer Prize for Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg.
• 1953 Sandburg pens an autobiography, Always the Younger Strangers.
• 1960 Harvest Poems, 1910-1960 is published. Sandburg campaigns for John F. Kennedy.
• 1963 Honey and Salt, another volume of poems, is published.
• 1967 July 22-Sandburg dies in North Carolina. His ashes are returned to his Galesburg birthplace and placed in "Carl Sandburg Park" behind his house. The ashes are set beneath "Remembrance Rock. "

Works and awards

1. Poetry Volumes --In Reckless Ecstasy (1904) --Incidentals (1907) --The Plaint of a Rose (1908) --Chicago Poems (1916) --Cornhuskers (1918) --Smoke and Steel (1920) --Slabs of the Sunburst West (1922) --Selected Poems (1926) --Good Morning, America (1928) --The People, Yes (1936) --Poems of the Midwest (1946) --The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg (1950) --Harvest Poems (1960) --Honey and Salt (1963) --Breathing Tokens (published posthumously in 1978) --Bill Sunday and Other Poems (published posthumously in 1993) --Selected Poems of Carl Sandburg (published posthumously in 1996)
2. Lincoln Biographies --Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years (two volumes published in 1926) --Abraham Lincoln: The War Years (four volumes published in 1939) --Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years (one volume edition published in 1954) --A Lincoln Preface (1953) --Mary Lincoln: Wife and Widow (1932)
3. Other Nonfiction Works --You and Your Job (1908) --The Chicago Race Riots of 1919 (1919) --The American Songbag (1927) --Steichen the Photographer (1929) --Storm over the Land (1942) --Home Front Memo (1943) --Always the Younger Strangers (1953) --The Sandburg Range (1957) --Ever the Winds of Chance (a posthumously published autobiography, 1983) Fiction --Remembrance Rock (1948)
4. Children's Books --Rootabaga Stories (1922) --Rootabaga Pigeons (1923) --Potato Face (1930) --Early Moon (1930) --Prairie-Town Boy (1955) --Wind Song (1960) Awards: --Levinson prize (from the magazine Poetry) for "Chicago" (1914) --The Poetry Society of America honors Sandburg in 1919 and 1921 --Pulitzer Prize for Abraham Lincoln: The War Years (1940) --Pulitzer Prize for The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg (1951)

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