Wednesday, March 20, 2013
poetry
While reading poetry this past weekend I was introduced to Carl Sandburg. I'm not a very big fan of poetry, my perspective is the shorter, the better. Out of the three poems by Sandburg that I read, two of them were very short, with the third fairly short. I found that Sandburg liked to use personification in his poems, "a lot", I enjoyed reading 'Fog', 'Grass', and 'Chicago'. I found the poem 'Grass' had a very dark theme, mostly covering death. In 'Chicago' Sandburg's use of personification shined it's brightest, with Chicago being referred to as being 'wicked', and 'crooked'. Sandburg used terms that usually apply to human kind towards the city Chicago.
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"Chicago" is one of my favorites...maybe because we live so close to the Windy City, maybe because I have visited there several times, maybe just because the poem is so full of personification. There is also an air of the Chicago of Sandburg's era which, while I wouldn't have liked to have lived it, makes it thrilling and exhiliarating. Good post, Jake.
ReplyDeleteHolla, Jake!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you mentioned Sandburg again. Like you, I am also not a a fan of poetry in general. I did, however, find Sandburg's works to be interesting and unique.
Like Mrs. S, I loved "Chicago." The city has long been a favorite vacation spot of mine, and I found Sandburg's personification of it to be creative and impressive. I loved the way that the poem makes the city come alive and gives it "human-ness."
I enjoyed "Fog" for its simplicity and sleekness. And I, too, found "Grass" to be dark, but delightful.
Glad you found something that appealed to you!
I read the poem "Chicago" as well! You are right Sandberg definitely uses a wide variety of personification in all of his poems! When I was reading Chicago I felt as if Sandberg was comparing the city to that of a man-to be exact. It wasn't just the human kind he was comparing the city to, but it was a masculine being that was being compared. In the first five lines he compares Chicago to a variety of different workers. I noted that all of these jobs listed were jobs that a man would most likely have. Example: tool maker, butcher, railroad worker, freight train conductor, ext. You hardly ever see women with these particular jobs. He also uses the words: husky, brawling, broad shoulders. This is a perfect portrayal of masculine traits. Sandberg also talks directly about men instead of just indirectly as usual. He talks about the men that live within the city of Chicago. He talks about the farm boys being attracted to the city by the paintings of women and also about the wicked, violent gunman that take over and that we need to be scared of. He even uses a baseball slugger, which is a man, as a similie of comparision. At the end Sandberg uses even more basic human traits for his descrition. The city has a pulse, heartbeat, ribs, and teeth. All in all I would say that Sandberg's message is a negative one on Chicago. It is a good poem and you had a good post as well :)
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