Carl Sandburg Essay Research Paper Authorpoet Carl
Carl Sandburg Essay, Research Paper
Author-poet Carl Sandburg was born in the three-room bungalow at 313 East Third
Street in Galesburg on January 6, 1878. The modest house reflects the typical
populating conditions of a late 19th century propertyless household. Many of the
trappingss one time belonged to the Sandburg household are still in tact. Behind the
house stands a little wooded park. Underneath Remembrance Rock, lie the ashes
of Carl Sandburg, who died in 1967.
Carl August Sandburg was born the boy of Swedish immigrants August and
Clara Anderson Sandburg. The senior Sandburg, a blacksmith & # 8217 ; s assistant for the
nearby Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, purchased the bungalow in 1873.
Carl, called & # 8220 ; Charlie & # 8221 ; by the household, was born the second of seven kids in
1878. A twelvemonth subsequently the Sandburgs sold the little bungalow in favour of a larger house
in Galesburg. Carl Sandburg worked from the clip he was a immature male child. He quit
school following his graduation from 8th class in 1891 and spent a decennary
working many occupations. He delivered milk, harvested ice, laid bricks, threshed wheat
in Kansas, and shined places in Galesburg & # 8217 ; s Union Hotel earlier going as a tramp
in 1897.
His experiences working and going greatly influenced his authorship and
political positions. As a tramp he learned a figure of folk vocals, which he subsequently
performed at speech production battles. He saw first-hand the big difference
between rich and hapless, a inflence that instilled in him a misgiving of capitalist economy.
When the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898 Sandburg volunteered for
service, and at the age of 20 was ordered to Puerto Rico, where he spent yearss
combating merely heat and mosquitoes. Upon his return to his hometown subsequently that twelvemonth,
he entered Lombard College, back uping himself as a call fireman.
Sandburg & # 8217 ; s college old ages shaped his literary endowments and political positions.
While at Lombard, Sandburg joined the Poor Writers & # 8217 ; Club, an informal literary
organisation whose members met to read and knock poesy. Poor Writers & # 8217 ;
laminitis, Lombard professor Phillip Green Wright, a gifted bookman and political
broad, encouraged the gifted immature Sandburg. Sandburg honed his authorship accomplishments
and adopted the socialist positions of his wise man before go forthing school in his senior
twelvemonth. Sandburg sold stereoscope positions and wrote poesy for two old ages before his
first book of poetry, In Reckless Ecstasy, was printed on Wright & # 8217 ; s basement imperativeness in
1904. Wright printed two more volumes for Sandburg, Incidentals and The Plaint
of a Rose.
As the first decennary of the century wore on, Sandburg grew progressively
concerned with the predicament of the American worker. In 1907 he worked as an
organiser for the Wisconsin Social Democratic party, composing and administering
political booklets and literature. At party central office in Milwaukee, Sandburg
met Lilian Steichen, whom he married in 1908. The duties of matrimony
and household prompted a calling alteration. Sandburg returned to Illinois and took up
news media. For several old ages he worked as a newsman for the Chicago Daily News,
covering largely labour issues and subsequently composing his ain characteristic.
Sandburg was virtually unknown to the literary universe when, in 1914, a
group of his verse forms appeared in the nationally circulated Poetry magazine. Two
old ages subsequently his book Chicago Poems was published, and the thirty-eight-year-old
writer found himself on the threshold of a calling that would convey him international
acclamation. Sandburg published another volume of verse forms, Cornhuskers, in 1918, and
wrote a seeking analysis of the 1919 Chicago race public violences. More poesy followed,
along with Rootabaga Stories, a book of notional kids & # 8217 ; s narratives. That book
prompted Sandburg & # 8217 ; s publishing house, Alfred Harcourt, to propose a life of
Abraham Lincoln for kids. Sandburg researched and wrote for three old ages,
bring forthing non a kids & # 8217 ; s book, but a two-volume life for grownups. His
Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years, published in 1926, was Sandburg & # 8217 ; s foremost
fiscal success. He moved to a new place on the Michigan dunes and devoted
the following several old ages to finishing four extra volumes, Abraham Lincoln:
The War Years, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940. Sandburg continued
his prolific authorship, printing more verse forms, a novel, Remembrance Rock, a
2nd volume of common people vocals, and an autobiography, Always the Young Strangers.
In 1945 the Sandburgs moved with their herd of prize-winning caprine animals and
1000s of books to Flat Rock, North Carolina. Sandburg & # 8217 ; s Complete Poems
won him a 2nd Pulitzer Prize in 1951. Sandburg died at his North Carolina
place July 22, 1967. His ashes were returned, as he had requested, to his
Galesburg place of birth. In the little Carl Sandburg Park behind the house, his ashes
were placed beneath Remembrance Rock, a ruddy granite bowlder. Ten old ages subsequently the
ashes of his married woman were placed at that place.