Sandburg, Carl, 1878–1967, American poet and biographer, b. Galesburg, Ill. The son of poor Swedish immigrants, he left school at the age of 13 and became a day laborer. He served in the Spanish-American War and, after returning to Galesburg, attended Lombard College (now Knox College). In 1902 he went to work as a newspaperman in Milwaukee. In 1908 he married Lillian Steichen, sister of the photographer Edward Steichen. From 1910 to 1912 he was secretary to the Socialist mayor of Milwaukee. Sandburg later moved to Chicago, where he continued his journalism career, becoming in 1917 an editorial writer for the Chicago Daily News. His poetry first began to attract attention in Harriet Monroe's magazine Poetry. With the appearance of his Chicago Poems (1916), Cornhuskers (1918), Smoke and Steel (1920), and Slabs of the Sunburnt West (1922), his reputation was established. Among his later volumes of verse are Good Morning, America (1928), The People, Yes (1936), Complete Poems (1950; Pulitzer Prize), Harvest Poems, 1910–1960 (1960), and Honey and Salt (1963). Sandburg drew most of his inspiration from American history and was profoundly influenced by Walt Whitman. His verse is vigorous and impressionistic, written without regard for conventional meter and form, in language both simple and noble. Much of his poetry celebrates the beauty of ordinary people and things. Sandburg's most ambitious work was his six-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln (1926–39); this monumental work exalts Lincoln as the symbol and embodiment of the American spirit. The last four volumes won the Pulitzer Prize. At 70, Sandburg produced his first work of fiction, the novel Remembrance Rock (1948), a panoramic epic of America. His other works include The American Songbag (1927), a collection of folk ballads and songs; children's books, such as Rootabaga Stories (1922); and the autobiographical Always the Young Strangers (1953).

Bibliography

See his letters, ed. by H. Mitgang (1968); biographies by N. Callahan (1970) and H. Golden (1988); studies by R. Crowder (1963), H. B. Durnell (1965), and W. A. Sutton (1979).

Sandburg, Carl

Carl Sandburg, 1949.

(credit: Courtesy of the Illinois State Historical Library, Springfield)

(born Jan. 6, 1878, Galesburg, Ill., U.S.—died July 22, 1967, Flat Rock, N.C.) U.S. poet, historian, novelist, and folklorist. Sandburg tried many occupations and fought in the Spanish-American War before moving to Chicago in 1913, where he worked in journalism. He won recognition in 1914 with poems, including “Chicago,” perhaps his best-known, published in Poetry magazine. His Whitmanesque free verse eulogizing American workers appeared in such volumes as Smoke and Steel (1920) and The People, Yes (1936). The American Songbag (1927) and New American Songbag (1950) collect folk songs he performed. His other works include Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years (1926), Abraham Lincoln: The War Years (1939, Pulitzer Prize), Remembrance Rock (1948), and four children's books, including Rootabaga Stories (1922).

Sandburg, Carl (August) (Militant; Jack Philips, pen names) (1878–1967) poet, writer, folklorist; born in Galesburg, Ill. He studied at Lombard College, Galesburg (1898–1902)—with time out for service in the Spanish-American War (1899)—and in the decades ahead would work as an editor, journalist, copywriter, lecturer, and collector of folk songs. He was an organizer of the Social-Democratic Party (1908), and was secretary to the Socialist mayor of Milwaukee (1910–12). Known for such famous poems as "Chicago" (1914), and "Fog" (1916), he won the Pulitzer Prize (1940) for the last of his six-volume biography of Lincoln (1926–39). He was ahead of most of his fellow poets in his interest in American folksong and lore; he collected some 300 folksongs and ballads in The American Songbag (1927) and he often gave public recitals, accompanying himself on the guitar. He also wrote children's books and a novel, Remembrance Rock (1948). Based in Chicago for much of his life, he retired to Flat Rock, N.C.