
Carl Sandburg, 1961 by William Arthur Smith, Oil on canvas
Carl August Sandburg (1878-1967) was an American poet, journalist and novelist. His family was poor. He left school after 8th grade and held a series of "blue collar" jobs as a youth, "traveled the rails" as a hobo, and worked his way through college (Lombard College), although he never completed a degree. A respect for many different kinds of work is reflected in his writing. Mr. Sandburg won three Pulitzer Prizes -- 2 for his poetry and one for one of his books on Abraham Lincoln (history category). His works on Abraham Lincoln are core to readers who wish to know more about this U. S. president.
Quote[]
"All my life I have been trying to learn to read, to see and hear, and to write." -Carl Sandburg [1]
Fog[]
One of his famous, short and easy to quote poems is "Fog"
- The fog comes
- on little cat feet.
- It sits looking
- over harbor and city
- on silent haunches
- and then moves on.
Bibliography[]
(incomplete)
Poetry[]
- In Reckless Ecstasy (1904)
- Incidentals (1907)
- The Plaint of a Rose (1908)
- Chicago Poems (1916)
- Complete Poems (1950)
- Cornhuskers (1918)
- Good Morning, America (1928)
- Harvest Poems (1950)
- Honey and Salt (1963)
- In Reckless Ecstasy (1904)
- Selected Poems (1926)
- Slabs of the Sunburnt West (1922)
- Smoke and Steel (1920)
- The People, Yes (1936)
Prose[]
- Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years (1926)
- Abraham Lincoln: The War Years (1939) * Pulitzer Prize in 1940
- Mary Lincoln: Wife and Widow (1932)
- Steichen the Photographer (1929)
- The American Songbag (1927)
- The New American Songbag (1950)
External links[]
- Carl Sandburg's Biography on carl-sandburg.com
- Carl Sandburg on poets.org
- Carl Sandburg By Mark W. Van Wienen, Augustana College, South Dakota on the website of the English Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
- Wikipedia's article on Carl Sandburg
- There is a college named after him, Carl Sandburg College.
- Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site (U. S. National Park Service)