Brief Overview of 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.
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."
Bibliography of Works and Awards
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)
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)
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)
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)
Educational Web Sites:
--http://www.norfacad.pvt.k12.va.us/project/sandburg/sandburg.htm
-A site compiled by Norfolk Academy. It provides a brief biographical
sketch and links to poems by Sandburg.
--http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?prmID=29
-A "poetry exhibit" at the Academy of American Poets. This site
provides another biography and a detailed listing of works.
--http://alexia.lis.uiuc.edu/~rmrober/sandburg/home.htm
-A very well-compiled student site on Carl Sandburg. It offers
many links to more information on poetry and on the historical sites in
Galesburg that pertain to Carl Sandburg.
--http://carl-sandburg.com/
-A site devoted to Sandburg's Chicago Poems
Works Consulted outside of the Web
Golden, Harry. Carl Sandburg. Chicago: University
of Illinois Press, 1961.
Niven, Penelope. Carl Sandburg: A Biography. New
York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1991
Sandburg, Carl. The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg. New
York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1950.
Yannella, Philip R. The Other Carl Sandburg. Jackson: University
Press of Mississippi, 1996.