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Research Paper On Carl Sandburg

Decent Essays

Alexzandria Mulford
Professor Ryan
LIT1000
June 17 2018
Carl Sandburg and His Poetry
Carl Sandburg was a writer who wrote in many forms. He wrote anything from children’s books, to biographies, to poetry and had a very high reputation while he was alive. However, as years have gone by, his impact has faded along with it. He was born on January 6th 1878 in Galesburg, Illinois, his parents being Swedish immigrants. Sandburg was the second eldest of his four other brothers and sisters. His family was both hardworking and regularly attending church goers to the Lutheran Church, as stated in “Carl Sandburg” by Andrew J. Angyal. Being born just a few years after the Civil War, Sandburg got to hear stories of the war by people who fought in it, which …show more content…

He grew up around the common working man and even became one himself at a very young age. He got to hear stories of men who fought first hand in the war, and “recalls playing baseball in cow pastures, walking along dusty roads to the county fair, carrying water for the elephants at the circus, and swimming in the forbidden brickyard pond” (Angyal). Sandburg’s simplistic lifestyle greatly affected his style of writing. His poems are easy to read for the average person and don’t follow a strict structure or style. Instead Sandburg’s poems are more loose and free, yet strong and descriptive. No one has to be a mastermind to understand what Sandburg is telling through his …show more content…

This poem is free form and instead of having the usual stanzas, the poet is in the form of short paragraphs. Each paragraph is about a new animal and the attributes that Sandburg has that are from them. It is a poem with a lot of symbolism but it still manages to express its message easily and effectively. As it was stated, Sandburg was a freelancer and a hobo by choice. He left school because he felt more happy being out in the world in a more carefree lifestyle- much like an animal. The last paragraph really speaks to how Sandburg is a speaker for the common man. He compares his heart to average types of people and then says “For I am the keeper of the zoo: I say yes and no: I sing and kill and work: I am a pal of the world: I came from the wilderness.” Sandburg was a speaker for the average man, which might be why he became so popular in his time. In the quote, he lists out things that people of the working class can easily relate to, even going as far as saying he is “a pal of the

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