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Chicago Poems

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Chicago Poems
First edition
AuthorCarl Sandburg
LanguageEnglish
GenrePoetry
Published1916 (Henry Holt)
Media typePrint

Chicago Poemsis a 1916 collection of poetry byCarl Sandburg,his first by a mainstream publisher.

Inspiration, publication, and reception[edit]

Sandburg moved toChicagoin 1912 after living in Milwaukee, where he had served as secretary toEmil Seidel,Milwaukee's Socialist mayor.Harriet Monroe,a fellow resident of Chicago, had recently founded the magazinePoetryat around this time. Monroe liked and encouraged Sandburg's plain-speaking free verse style, strongly reminiscent ofWalt Whitman.

Sandburg sent his manuscript toAlfred Harcourt,then a junior-ranking editor atHenry Holt.Facing opposition from above, Harcourt removed and censored—with Sandburg's co-operation—the harsher poems. For example, the direct criticism of "Billy Sunday"by name, previously published inThe MassesandInternational Socialist Review,[1]was replaced with the more tepid and anonymous "To a Contemporary Bunkshooter".[2][3][4]

Chicago Poemsestablished Sandburg as a major figure in contemporary literature.[5]Chicago Poems,and its follow-up volumes of verse,Cornhuskers(1918) andSmoke and Steel(1920) represent Sandburg's attempts to found an American version of social realism, writing expansive verse in praise of American agriculture and industry.

Poems included[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • Sandburg, Carl (1993). Hendrik, George; Hendrik, Willene (eds.).Billy Sunday and Other Poems.Harcourt Brace & Company.
  • Alexander, William (March 1973). "The Limited American, the Great Loneliness, and the Singing Fire: Carl Sandburg's" Chicago Poems "".American Literature.45(1). Duke University Press: 67–83.doi:10.2307/2924539.JSTOR2924539.
  • Van Wienen, Mark (March 1991). "Taming the Socialist: Carl Sandburg'sChicago Poemsand its Critics ".American Literature.63(1). Duke University Press: 89–103.doi:10.2307/2926563.JSTOR2926563.

References[edit]

  1. ^Sandburg, Carl (1915)."Billy Sunday".The International Socialist Review.XVI(3): 152–3.
  2. ^Sandburg, Carl (1993). "Introduction". In Hendrik, George; Hendrik, Willene (eds.).Billy Sunday and Other Poems.Harcourt Brace & Company. pp. xi–xii.
  3. ^Van Wienen, Mark (March 1991). "Taming the Socialist: Carl Sandburg'sChicago Poemsand its Critics ".American Literature.63(1). Duke University Press: 89–103.doi:10.2307/2926563.JSTOR2926563.,pp. 99–101.
  4. ^Harcourt would soon found his own publishing firm, and Sandburg would later publish withHarcourt Brace.
  5. ^Monroe, Harriet(May 1916). "Chicago Granite:Chicago Poemsby Carl Sandburg ".Poetry.8(2): 90–93.JSTOR20570797.

External links[edit]

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