Carl Sandburg Research Paper

Carl Sandburg Biographical Essay

Carl Sandburg was an America writer, poet, and editor. In addition, he was a husband and a father to 3 daughters. He wrote pieces that illustrated what America represented. He was a civil rights supporter and as Lyndon B. Johnson stated, “Carl Sandburg was more than the voice of America, more than the poet of its strength and genius. He was America.”

Carl Sandburg was born on January 16, 1878, in Galesburg, Illinois. His family grew up very poor and Carl dropped out of school at the age of thirteen to work and find jobs to make money to support his family. At the age of seventeen, he traveled to Kansas and decided to serve in the Spanish-American war in Puerto Rico. While at war he met a man who convinced him to enroll in a college in Sandburg’s hometown when he got home from serving in the war.

He got back from the war and decided to enroll at Lombard College. He worked his way up through college and caught the attention of one of his professors who in the future would pay for his publication of his first volume of poetry titled In Reckless Ecstasy. After he finished college, he decided to move to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He worked as a newspaper reporter and an advertising writer. He met

his wife, Lillian Steichen, or Paula, and married her. He later worked as a secretary to the mayor of Milwaukee. Carl and his wife soon decided to move to Chicago.

Carl Sandburg was hired by Chicago Daily News to be an editorial writer.

A woman by the name of Harriet Monroe began to publish his poems in her magazine and encouraged him to keep producing his works. His word choice in his poems distinguished his writing style from his seeming race. He had more of a “homely speech” in his tone and style of writing and word choice. He began to establish his reputation as a writer with his publications such as Chicago Poems (1916), and Cornhuskers (1918), which he later received a Pulitzer Prize for. He took a particular interest in industrial America and Abraham Lincoln. He wrote a six-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln and he would travel across America and sing his children poems to audiences

nationwide.

Carl Sandburg passed away from natural causes and was cremated on July 22, 1967. His poems were said to encapsulate the very idea of America. His poems captured the hearts of people of all ages, races, and status. He once said, “Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.” That quote gives the audience a vision of how he invites people to be engaged in his poems and that the invitation is to everyone.