Carl Sandburg Effects

America is a country that has been through many different times of trials. Wars and disease have spread across that nation several times. During times of depression, though, a group of people seems to always emerge from the destruction. That group of people are the poets and writers of America. Through trial and strife, writers are able to find inspiration for their works, and are able to give readers hope for a better day. Walt Whitman was an amazing writer who wrote several poems concerning the great United States of America, talking about the people that have built the nation up from the dust. But, a group of people that Whitman forgot to write about on most occasions were the slaves and black people of which America thrived. Langston Hughes was a black man in the 20th century that took note of Whitman's poems, and their lack of recognition towards his people. Whitman wrote a poem called, "I Hear America Singing," in which Hughes wrote the poem, "I, Too Sing America," in response. In the poem by Hughes, there are several different ways that the writing interlaces with Walt Whitman's.

Poet Kenneth Koch cleverly imitates the structure, situations, and thematic form of two well-known poets in order to criticize and sometimes perhaps praise their simplicity and underlying irony. He often focuses on presenting the same situation within the poem in a new and humorous way that diversifies your perspective about Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall” and William Carlos Williams’s “This is Just to Say” affair. There is a strong relationship between the original and the parody that both enhances your view of the original and strangely, simultaneously weakens it.

For any literary intellectual that has explored the world of Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio, having assumed they were in their right mind, would undoubtedly consider the book to be written in a very depressing mood. Set in small town America, otherwise known as Winesburg, where everyone knowns about everyone, but nobody knows anyone, Anderson portrays his own, “Version of the dreamer that (he) imagines walking the uncongenial streets of a small Midwestern town” (Lindsay 29) throughout multiple characters within the collection of stories. All of the characters within the stories are neurotic, made up of strange, lonely and depressed personalities. These characters are repeatedly misled by lies. They are unsatisfied, frustrated, lonely,

He created the modern version of Walt Whitman "I Hear America Singing " that consist of 5 stanzas and 18 lines. In his poem though relatable with the original is written with a different perspective. He shed light on the African Americans position and their point of view and racism in America.He starts off the poem by saying "I am the darker brother " to show the reader the distinctive and only difference.He then goes on to describes their hardship of never being recognized or seen in the same caliber as whites in the quote "They send me to eat in the kitchen when company comes " this shows there are not valued enough to be shown the same respect.But later in the poem you could see he envision for a better tomorrow for African Americans he foresees them reaching their full potential and there being a change which you can see in line 8when he says " Tomorrow I'll be at the table when company comes nobody'll dare say to me eat in the kitchen then".Although this poem is written through an African America perspective many minorities would be able to relate

To truly understand mental processes and behaviors of humans, and to write about and fabricate these behaviors in a realistic fictional manner, is truly an astonishing talent, one which is seldom found. Among this rare breed stands Tobias Wolff, Oxford and Stanford educated novelist and short story writer, who is revered as a great modern American writer because of his deep understanding of the human psyche and his ability to design characters so emotionally complex that their hearts beat within the pages of his work. Even without a particular unifying theme amongst his short stories, Wolff remains a pervasive figure in the realm of American literature. He does not need an overlying theme to integrate his short stories; Wolff’s powerful understanding of the human condition and his ability to give his characters pure vitality are enough to thrust him into the realm of literary greatness, where his stories will likely continue to thrive and prosper, even

This poem underscores Whitman 's basic attitude toward America, which is part of his ideal of human life. The American nation has based its faith on the creativeness of labor, which Whitman glorifies in this poem. This poem expresses Whitman 's love of America with its lively atmosphere and the people 's achievement. What Whitman failed to see was that he was looking from the white American perspective and not the eyes of the African American man. Langston Hughes, being American, tells all of us in his poetry that freedom must belong to all of us before it can be freedom for anyone. For, indeed, the black man 's roots are deep in America, even deeper than those of most white Americans. Therefore, Hughes celebrates America as well, but not an America that is but an America that is to come.

In the early 20th century Carl Sandburg wrote a poem called “Chicago”. In this poem he opens with brutal imagery about the city Chicago by calling in a “hog” and the “butcher of the world”. Sandburg later defends the city from the hateful terms that have been expressed towards Chicago. Carl Sandburg expresses a very clear tone throughout the poem “Chicago”, the tone can be easily analyzed by evaluating how Sandberg describes the city towards the middle of the poem. Reading through the poem you can easily understand that the speaker is expressing a very proud tone.

It is hard to believe that Jerome David Salinger, the famous author who won millions of people’s hearts, the microphone that spoke teenager’s feelings of all ages, and the embodiment of American Literature, was not at all elated by the rich and fame from his smash hit, but was the catalyst of his shutdown from society. Salinger was afflicted by the vociferous paparazzi for his works, and ironically, the same works were his gateway to sanctuary. He was suffering multiple mental illnesses through his lifetime, as anyone can witness from his literary works. His peculiar demands for solitude, and his adamant pursuit to take legal action against those who would mimic his style or borrow his characters were signs of mental distress. All this is

In his poem, America, he tells his story and beliefs by explaining to the reader what he feels about America. In the first two stanzas, he tells the reader about the country and states it as a woman that "feeds

Carl Sandburg; a 20th century American Poet, once defined poetry as “…the opening and closing of a door, leaving those who look through to guess about what is seen during that moment.” Sandburg attempts to suggest that an experience can be expressed by a poet via the way language is used. Many writers are influenced heavily by the political, social, and environmental situations that they’ve experienced, which may need to be known to the reader to fully understand what the writer is trying to communicate through their works.

The city of Chicago is referred to as if it were a living, breathing, vibrant person. The entire poem personifies Chicago into a living entity. He describes Chicago as a human with “Big Shoulders”, “head singing”, “white teeth”, and “the heart of the people”. He is so convincing that as you read you feel like he is talking about a living "pulsing" person. In the second verse, Sandburg speaks to Chicago in a way you might discuss someones past. “They tell me you are wicked” also “They tell me you are crooked”.(SANDBUR 727) In each example sandburg agrees with Chicago’s less than perfect reputation. However the poet sees through all the roughness and sees the liveliness and excitement that existed in the city. Furthering his purpose Sandburg defends the city referring to its “lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning”(14-15). In the final stanza, Sandburg moves from personification to a simile "Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness" (18). Then, as if in a drumming cadence to make a sort of thumping emotional appeal of how he sees Chicago, Sandburg uses an astonishingly effective series of words that precisely indicates what he sees in

The overall meaning and theme of the poem is the knowledge that situations will eventually become better, despite one’s malice towards them, but the reason they become better is they become familiar. The malice shown in the piece is reluctance to change. McKay states, “I love this cultured hell that test my youth.” This metaphor is important because he calls the place, he supposedly love, hell. Because “Literature possesses a community of themes and subject matters that best express the social… situations of the Blacks in America” (Adewumi and Kayode), poetry can illustrate the conflicting emotions a person has towards situations.

For example, “We” built the pyramids, and we have been around as long as these rivers. This poem is meant to be positive. It does not talk directly about racism or puts down the white race for being prejudiced. In the poem, “I, Too” he describes how he is also part of what America is. Even if he is sent to eat in the kitchen, he is as much a part of America as anyone else. It shows that one day he will not be made to hide and eat in the kitchen. One day people will see that African Americans are beautiful people, and will be ashamed of how they were treated. This poem gives hope to the black community. It makes them look forward to the day when equality will come and racism will end. “Too bad that the day has still not yet come in this century.”[5]

The powerful message of the depiction and strength of the characters—men or women, young or old, rich or poor—tell the story of their strength and will to stand up against their oppressors and achieve success. Success is this sense, is not necessarily measured by economic or monetary goals, rather it is determined by if they fight against and prevail over the meaningless future that white America has predestined for them. Angelou creates a tone of resilience when the character the poem tells her oppressors, “You may shoot me with your words/ You may cut me with your eyes/ You may kill me with you hatefulness/ But still, like air, I’ll rise” (“Rise” 20-25). Hughes creates the same tone when the man in his poem is not discouraged by the manner in which he is treated by his “family”.

In the words of Anne Bradstreet, “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” As writers of the modern era expressed their hardships through poetry, one can only hope that they kept such advice in mind. Through captivating works, poets such as Langston Hughes, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Robert Frost, and E.E. Cummings expressed the struggles of life during the modern era. By examining what these poets have to say about dissatisfaction with life, feelings of inadequacy, and loneliness, it becomes clear that life during the modern era was full of hardships.