Carl Sandburg
Selected Poems

Introduction

Hats
Skypieces
Haunts
from Prairie
Under the Harvest Moon
Under a Hat Rim
Prayers of Steel
Broken Face Gargoyles
Upstream
Pennsylvania
Aprons of Silence
Speed
The Junk Man
A Million Young Workmen, 1915

INTRODUCTION

Carl Sandburg was a great voice of the American industrial age, a "people's poet" who combined the mystical patriotism of Walt Whitman with the social activism of Woody Guthrie. Sandburg is remembered as a raw, folksy poet, whose early work focused on the bustle and spirit of midwestern and urban America; his most famous poem celebrates the city of Chicago, begining: "Hog Butcher for the World / Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat / Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler / Stormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulders."

Sandburg is nearly as well known for his six-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln, which still is considered the definitive biography of the president. Sandburg wrote for the Chicago Daily News and often travelled around the country, singing and collecting folk songs and reciting poetry.

During the course of his career, Sandburg won three Pulitzer Prizes, one for history and two for poetry.

(composite from various online sources)