Carl Sandburg revisited

I read that today (January 6^th) is the birthday of Carl Sandburg, American poet.  As an English major, I encountered the poems of Sandburg many years ago.  Sandburg was included briefly among many other writers in traditional survey courses.  Inevitably, students encountered one poem by Sandburg and then, like the fog, moved on:

Fog

The fog comes

on little cat feet.

 

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on.

Now that I have more time to read, I have discovered that Sandburg’s writings are far more extensive and complex.  I also believe that it is necessary to separate Sandburg’s “wheat” from his “chaff.”  The “wheat” is gleaned from Sandburg’s early years when much of his poetry spoke for the common people.  Here is a good example:

I Am the People, the Mob 

  I Am the people--the mob--the crowd--the mass.

Do you know that all the great work of the world is

done through me?

I am the workingman, the inventor, the maker of the

world's food and clothes.

I am the audience that witnesses history. The Napoleons

come from me and the Lincolns. They die. And

then I send forth more Napoleons and Lincolns.

I am the seed ground. I am a prairie that will stand

for much plowing. Terrible storms pass over me.

I forget. The best of me is sucked out and wasted.

I forget. Everything but Death comes to me and

makes me work and give up what I have. And I

forget.

Sometimes I growl, shake myself and spatter a few red

drops for history to remember. Then--I forget.

When I, the People, learn to remember, when I, the

People, use the lessons of yesterday and no longer

forget who robbed me last year, who played me for

a fool--then there will be no speaker in all the world

say the name: 'The People,' with any fleck of a

sneer in his voice or any far-off smile of derision.

The mob--the crowd--the mass--will arrive then.

This poem by Sandburg is as new and as fresh as when it was first written in 1916.  Can we in 2012 fail to see the Occupy Movement in those words?

As one of my New Year’s resolutions, I intend to rediscover the early Sandburg.  In addition, I will test my supposition that some of Sandburg’s early works may be a good source for some enterprising musicians who want to express our current political climate in song.

Using the works of early poets as the basis for songs has a precedent.  Consider the song “Richard Corey” inspired by Edwin Arlington Robinson’s poem of the same name:

Could Sandburg, who died in 1967, see a revival?  It’s too soon to tell, but perhaps so.

©2012