Sandburg's Predecessors and Influences on him

1. Abraham Lincoln: Carl Sandburg credited Abraham Lincoln with having the most influence on his work, in both social and literary aspects. He wrote about Lincoln, "[He] foreshadowed something. The people took him as a new figure of hope for them. This hope ranged around wider freedom, political and economic, for the common man. It might be long in coming. But Lincoln held the lights and the high torch for it." Sandburg studied Lincoln's Letter to Mrs. Bixby, the Gettysburg Speech, and the Second Inaugural. He admired Lincoln's vocabulary which ranged from street vernacular to archaic Anglo-Saxon terms.

2. Walt Whitman: Critis refer to Sandburg's poetry as a continuation of the Whitman tradition. Both poets wrote specifically about America. Whitman considered America herself a poem, and Sandburg extended this idea with his poems about the people of America. Whitman and Sandburg both gloried the achievements of America and exults in the ingenuity of the American people. Both poets believed that American expression should be strong, and inspire the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity. Whitman had great influence on Sandburg particularly in the structure area, as Whitman was one of the first acclaimed poets to use free verse.

3. Ralph Waldo Emerson: Emerson, in his "The American Scholar" address, calls for a truly American philosopher- one who considers the American mythology, and writes for the American people in their own voice. He demanded an intellectual revolution to match the war for independence. In many ways, Carl Sandburg epitomized the American scholar that Emerson demanded. The philosophies of the two men are also quite similar. Both Emerson and Sandburg believed that there is One Man (a parallel to the soul or divine,) in each man. Man had become men, split into individuals endowed with a special talent, and only the combined talents of men present a true picture of Man. Emerson was way more confusing about this than Sandburg- Sandburg just presented collective heros, such as the one portrayed in Chicago.

4. Emily Dickinson: Emily Dickinson was one of the first poets to recognize the necessity of a break from the traditional manner of writing poetry. She also broke from the traditional religious outlook on nature and poetry. In addition, she was one of the first poets to use imagery and minimalism effectively. Sandburg mirrored her style in poems such as "The Harbor."

5. Victor Hugo: Sandburg appears to have been influence by this French author of Les Miserables. Works by both authors share humanitarian aspects. Sandburg spoke out for the oppressed and poor of Chicago in the same way that Hugo had written on behalf of those suffering in Paris. The works share the same sense of polarity between socio-economic classes, and both are biased in favor of the lower classes victimized by the powerful and wealthy.

6. The Prairie: The land of American certainly played a part in Sandburg's works, especially the prairie of the mid-west. He wrote of the land as the voice of America, "As the prairie is the heartland of American, as it is the "mother of men", waiting, so should its poetry be the mother of poetry, before the cities come." In poems such as "Grass," Sandburg celebrates the immortatlity of the prairie.

7. Industry: Industry was exploding in the mid-west during the era Sandburg wrote his Chicago poems. It was one of the main shaping forces of America, and Carl Sandburg chose to interpret this force in his poetry. Although it is not dealt with extensively in the Chicago Poems, its effect can be seen in poems such as Skyscraper.

8. The Bible: Sandburg's rhythmic, half- prose, half-poetry is reminescent of the language used in the Bible on occasion. His parents could both read the Bible, and Sandburg grew up with fairly strong knowledge of Biblical lore. He also considered this an integral part of American heritage.

Sandburg's Role as American Bard

"Sandburg is the one living man whose work and whose life epitmize the American dream. he has the earthiness of the prairies, the majesty of the mountains, the anger of deep inland seas. In him is the restlessness of the seeker, the questioner, the explorer of far horizons, the hunger that is never satisfied. In him also is the tough strength that has never been fully measure, never unleashed, the resiliancy of youthfullness which wells from within, and which no aging can destroy." (Stevenson)

Carl Sandburg was often referred to the as the poet of Whitman and Emerson's idea of the "American Scholar." He wrote for the American people with a uniquely American voice. In fact, he published an entire volume consisting of one poem that was a collection of American mythology in the form of tall tales, and cliches. In addition, his life was the enactment of the "American Dream"- he raised himself from poverty with hard work and met success. Sandburg wrote politically active "poetry of the witness" intended to further democracy and equality in America. He considered himself as having a responsibility and committment to the masses.

Art versus Social Critisism debate

 

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