Sandburg's Song: Part 3

Part 3: The Aftermath

Link to art page

Carl Sandburg died on July 22, 1967 in Flat Rock, North Carolina, at the age of 89. He was thirty-five years old when he published "Chicago" in 1914, and would be the first of what would later be a nine poem collection titled "Chicago Poems," published in 1916.

Before his death, however, and after his success with "Chicago," Sandburg would go on to win three Pulitzer Prizes(1919, 1940, 1951), one Robert Frost Medal(1952), and even a Grammy(1959) for "Best Spoken Word." Yet with "Chicago," he had landed into the world of letters like a raging meteor coming for the dinosaurs, enjoying a celebrated life to come.

His birth home on Galesburg, Illinois was turned into a memorial during his lifetime; he is the only known poet invited to address congress, which he did in 1959; he appeared on a variety of television shows such as "The Ed Sullivan Show," the "Texaco hour," and the "Today Show" to name a few; and even managed to have Gene Kelly dance to one of his poems. The nation knew of him and celebrities doted over him, yet with all his super-stardom, he would always be the workingman's poet. His simple and direct words for the layman would resonate with even the most exulted of readers and critics.

Sandburg meeting with Marilyn Monroe

In "Chicago," Sandburg would do more for the city than simply bestow an inadvertent moniker; he would give the people a sense of youthful pride, an undaunting swag, and a wholly unique identity rivaled only by the '85 Chicago Bears and the Michael Jordan era Chicago Bulls. 

After his death Sandburg left an indelible mark on, not only the literary world, but Chicago itself. His name graces the the walls and halls of Carl Sandburg Middle School in Elmhurst, IL., and the Carl Sandburg High School in Orland park, IL., both renamed during his lifetime. And aside from various other malls, libraries, and landmarks bearing the poet's name, he is also the inspiration of the "Carl Sandburg Award" promoted by the Chicago Public Library. And, in December 2011 in only its second annual induction ceremony, Sandburg took his rightful place in the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame with other giants of Chicago literature. His ashes are buried along his wife's at his childhood home in Galesburg, Illinois.

Note: there is so much more information on Carl Sandburg. If you're curious to learn more I attached a couple of links below. Also, PBS produced a great "American Masters" episode of Carl Sandburg. It's a high honor, this. Check out the embedded video 

Work Cited:

http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2013/marchapril/feature/workingmans-poet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Sandburg

Sandburg's Song: Part 2

Part Two: The Poem

        If you read part one of this post, you had the opportunity to mull over Carl Sandburg’s “Chicago.” To understand the bulk of this poem, it’s important also to understand a bit of Chicago history and geography. 

            See, when Chicago was first incorporated as a town in the 1830’s, it was already a bustling trading post due to its smack-dab-in-the middle-of-the-country locale and, with Lake Michigan as its geographical dance partner, was an ideal hub for all the nations trading activity. Cargo of merchandise would arrive from the east on trains or ships worming their way through the great lakes, be processed in Chicago Union Stock Yards, then continue west on trains or boats navigating the various rivers, and vice versa.

               

General Drawing of Chicago Union Stock Yards, 1901

 The Stock Yards were home to large companies like Sears-Roebucks, Pullman Rail Company, and slaughterhouses and meatpacking companies like Armour, Oscar-Mayer, and Swift(which is the central focus of Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle”). These slaughterhouses would dump excess animal waste into the rivers which would then flow into Lake Michigan, that freaking st…REEKED! But I digress, where was I? Oh yeah, Sandburg. So in the first stanza we see what he’s talking about:

“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:”

"American Masters" PBS Promo Poster 

But one more, very important, description appears in this stanza: Sandburg personifies Chicago, meaning he gives it human qualities. But not just any elderly human with a bad back and poor eyesight, but one with vigor, a “stormy, husky, brawling” human; a strong human with “big shoulders.” Sandburg’s likening Chicago to a young, brash man is the crux of this poem.

 In 1914 Chicago was approximately 80 years old; Old, but not as old as other world cities such as Tokyo, London, New York, and Mexico City, yet it was growing like a teenager with an overactive pituitary gland, almost twice as fast as any of its predecessors. This rapid growth in commerce and population exceeded the growth of government, which made Chicago ripe with debauchery and vice, teeming with criminals and greedy politicians, and overrun with freebooters from all over the country looking to exploit the city’s youth and inexperience. In the second stanza we’ll witness this, then see how the young Chicago (we’ll call him ‘Little Chi-City’) responds to his critics: 

“They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted 

women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys. 

And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it is true I have seen the 

gunman kill and go free to kill again. 

And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the faces of women and 

children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger. 

And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and 

I give them back the sneer and say to them: 

Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and 

coarse and strong and cunning. 

Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on job, here is a tall bold slugger set 

vivid against the little soft cities;”

So apparently Little Chi-City gives no fucks for criticism. The narrator sees validity in the condemnation of all its vices: murder, crooked politicians, prostitutes, and homelessness, but praises Chicago’s strength and “cunning” in the face of adversity. Little Chi-City “with lifted head” sings, “proud to be alive.”

"American Masters" PBS promo poster

And the most vivid description comes in the last sentence which continues Little Chi-City’s characterization not only as young brash man, but a “tall, bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities.” Bam! You could almost see Mohammed Ali vs. Pee-Wee Herman. 

In the last portion Sandburg continues, unabashed, to build Little Chi-City as a force on the world stage, unrestrained and hungry. And, in one masterful stroke, ends the poem with the beginning stanza yet, by this point, the tone has changed so dramatically from that of a city whose reputation stinks like its slaughterhouses to one whose audacious strength and pride stem from the same forum as its initial degradation, challenging and taunting.

“Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness,

   Bareheaded,

   Shoveling,

   Wrecking,

   Planning,

   Building, breaking, rebuilding,

Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with white teeth,

Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man laughs,

Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle,

Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse, and under his ribs the heart of the people,

                   Laughing!

Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.”

         

"American Masters" PBS Promo poster

So this is  how Sandburg saw Chicago. Not as a large, sophisticated, cultured world city; only because it wasn't that yet. At the time, he saw it for exactly what it was: A young, dirty, crime-ridden town, growing, busting at the seams with world potential.

If you have any questions or comments about the poem or Sandburg, I'd love to hear from you. Also please check back for “Part 3: The Aftermath,” Thank for reading!

Sandburg's Song: Part 1

Part One: The Poet

Oh Boy, I might’ve bitten off more than I could chew on this one.  But we’re all in now! So where to begin digging in on this masterpiece of lyrical lasciviousness; this parlance of pride; this music of mockery and ballad of the “Big Shoulders”? Let’s start with the man himself.

Carl Sandburg

CarlSandburg (1878-1967) was a man of letters. Born in Galesburg, Il., a small town far west of Chicago, to Clara Mathilda and August Sandberg( he later changed the “-berg” to “-burg”) a young Carl later moved from the sleepy town to the bright gaslights of Chicago to write as a cub reporter for the Chicago Daily News and the Day Book. What he saw during his time in Chicago would be the inspiration to Sandburg’s greatest contribution to the realm of Windy City literature, and simultaneously gifting it one of its most known nicknames, the “City of Big Shoulders.”

First appearing in the famous Poetry magazine in March 1914, to primer the ensuing discussion I present to you Carl Sandburg’s tour de force, Chicago, in its entirety:

Chicago

First publication of "Chicago" in Poetry, 1914

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:


They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I
have seen your painted women under the gas lamps
luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it
is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to
kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the
faces of women and children I have seen the marks
of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who
sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer
and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing
so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on
job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the
little soft cities;


Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning
as a savage pitted against the wilderness,


Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,


Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with
white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young
man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has
never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse,
and under his ribs the heart of the people,


Laughing!


Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of
Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog
Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with
Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.

Please check back for "Sandburg's Song: Part 2" for more on the poet, his legacy, and his poem

Oak Park, Il. Earnest About Hemingway

Hemingway's 1923 Passport photo 

It seems disingenuous to begin a blog about Chicago’s presence in literature by discussing Ernest Hemingway, seeing as the genius bastard never wrote a sentence about it in his fiction. Well, not exactly. Born and raised in Oak Park, Il., a suburb just past Chicago’s westside, Hemingway had a love-hate relationship with his home town, reportedly having said it was a place of “wide lawns and narrow minds” in a letter to his sister begging her to leave Oak Park and experience the world. Leaving in his teens for Kansas, and later to the front lines of the Great War, Hemingway only returned a few times as a famished 20 year old to speak to small crowds about his overseas experiences before finally vanishing for good to become a cherished citizen of the world.

Though the list of his much romanticized residences reads like a Jim Varney filmography (Ernest Goes to Spain; Ernest Goes to Paris; Ernest Goes to Cuba; Ernest Goes to... you get the point), the fact remains that Hemingway is a Chicago-area writer. Born on July 21^st , 1899, to Dr. Clarence Hemmingway and Grace Hall-Hemingway, The young Ernest’s literally career could be argued began in Oak Park River Forest High School where he wrote for the school paper, The Trapeze. Yet it was his family vacations to their cabin in upstate Michigan, near the town of Petosky, that had lasting impressions on the young Hemingway, making a bulging cameo in his first collection of published short stories, In Our Time, where Chicago and Oak Park are practically left out in the cold.

However one shining sliver of acknowledgement appears at the end of his short story “A Very Short Story”, which revolves around the unfulfilled love of a young Italian nurse and an unnamed military officer she met as a patient.

“The major did not marry her in the spring, or any other time. Luz never got an answer to the letter to Chicago about it. A short time after he contracted gonorrhea from a sales girl in a loop department store while riding in a taxicab through Lincoln Park.”

CTA Loop

It’s a subtle reference, but it’ll have to do. Now Chicagoans will nod in recognition at the mention of the “loop”, or where Lincoln Park is located in Chicago’s geography. But to the uninitiated here’s a little primer: the Loop is the central node where all the lines of the CTA(Chicago Transit Authority) meet then  circle above the streets and through business district’s skyscrapers before shooting back out to their respective neighborhoods. This area is named thus because of the literal loop the El (Elevated Train) creates through downtown.

Arial View of Lincoln Park

Next, Lincoln Park is a neighborhood located north of downtown Chicago. An affluent neighborhood, it’s home to DePaul University and the Lincoln Park Zoo.

Me at Hemingway's birthplace

Though his descriptions of exotic places around the world whet the imaginary appetite much more than this passage, Hemingway found little need to consistently use Chicago as the primary backdrop of his fiction, unlike other writers we’ll discuss later. Yet the residence located at 339 N. Oak Park Ave, Oak Park Illinois holds the singular distinction of being the birthplace of one of the most beloved writers in history.

Note: If you discover other moments where Chicago appears in Hemingway’s writings, post a comment.