The late 1800’s and the early 1900’s was a difficult time to live because of immigrants coming to America for a better way of life and also the Great Depression. Sandburg’s parents came from Sweden to Galesburg, Illinois in 1871 and gave birth to their second child on January 6, 1878, Carl August (Crowder 21). Sandburg grew up speaking Swedish and English. Eager to be brought into American Society, he “Americanized” his name. Sandburg began to call himself Charles instead of Carl because he felt Carl would mean “one more Swede boy,” while Charles filled the mouth

“I waited today for a freight train to pass

Critics had mixed feelings when it came to Sandburg’s writing. The Review of Reviews described him as “the first American poet of his generation – revealing the vitality and strength of the English tongue” (Niven). A critic for Poetry Review saw “great natural beauty amid the shocking imagery” (Hacker 59). Another critic, Malcolm Cowley, said Sandburg “turned the Mid-Western voice into a sort of music” (Cowley book cover). However the feeling was not mutual universally. The Dial had called his 1914 selection an “impudent affront” and called Sandburg “gross and simple-minded”(Hacker 59). Some more negative criticism came from critic Clement Wood. Wood found Sandburg’s vocabulary dated saying, “Slang is last night’s toadstool growth,” warning that Sandburg wrote in “unfamiliar rhythms and a vocabulary that tomorrow will speak only to the archaeologist” (Niven). Sandburg let the criticism go, but one piece of criticism caused him long hours of reflection. His close friend and colleague Amy Lowell’s view was that there was too much propaganda in his work (Niven). Despite all types of criticism, Sandburg will be long remembered for his unique style of free-verse and for his many outstanding works (Vinson 852).

“Carl Sandburg was more than a voice of America, more that the poet of its strength and

After his hobo adventures, Sandburg paid his service in the Army during the Spanish-American War. Following the War, Sandburg received a free tuition to Lombard College (now Knox College) in Galesburg where he wrote his first poetry (Byers 461). After a year of college, Sandburg dropped out saying nothing more than, “I felt the call elsewhere” (Hacker 44). Sandburg then had and opportunity to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, but he did not get accepted because he had failed the mathematics and grammar part of the test (Hacker 41). For three and a half months of his nineteenth year, he traveled throughout the West developing a sense of loyalty to his country and the people and listening to their stories, which transformed his poetry (Niven). In 1904, Sandburg returned to Galesburg where he got a few of his works published (Crowder 36). Soon after returning back to Galesburg, he began to feel bored. So with a suitcase in one hand and a guitar in the other, Sandburg once again left Galesburg in 1905, never to call it home again (Hacker 48). On returning back to Chicago, he was hired as associate editor of The Lyceumite (Hacker 51). December of 1907, Sandburg met his future wife, Lillian Steichen. She was a schoolteacher that shared the same passions for literature (Hacker 52). Sandburg took back his Swedish name Carl because Lillian told him “it was more masculine” (Hacker 53). On June 15, 1908, Sandburg married Lillian Steichen and in the next few years had three girls (Hacker 53-56). During this time, Sandburg had trouble finding a job. He finally found work on a tabloid called The Day Book. The pay was little so he landed a job for ten dollars more at a business magazine corporation called The System. Realizing his heart was not into this job, he returned to The Day Book (Hacker 56-57). Despite all of his job blunders, Sandburg made time to write poetry. His wife had a strong faith in the poems he wrote. She sent them in to magazines all across the country. Although she did not receive anything back, she did not give up. Finally, a small monthly magazine called Poetry gave interest in Sandburg. The purpose of this magazine was to discover little known poets. Poetry discovered poets such as T.S. Elliot, Robert Frost, and Vachel Lindsay. Things began to happen fast for Sandburg (Hacker 57-48).

Some topics in this essay:
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