Difference between revisions of "Carl Sandburg" - New World Encyclopedia

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Time magazine, December 4, 1939

Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, historian, novelist, balladeer and folklorist. He was born in Galesburg, Illinois of Swedish parents and died at his home, named Connemara, in Flat Rock, North Carolina.

H. L. Mencken called Carl Sandburg "indubitably an American in every pulse-beat." He was a successful journalist, poet, historian, biographer, and autobiographer. During the course of his career, Sandburg won two Pulitzer Prizes, one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln (Abraham Lincoln: The War Years) and one for his collection The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg.

Biography

Born in Galesburg, Illinois, Carl Sandburg was raised in a relatively poor family of Swedish immigrants in a rural region of the American Midwest. Sandburg youth was spent working to help support the family home; he had little time for education, and from the age of 11 on he worked on the wheat fields, as wel as working oddjobs as a bricklayer, barber, and truck driver.

During the Spanish-American War, Sandburg enlisted in the 6th Illinois Infantry, and he participated in the landing at Guánica on July 25, 1898 during the invasion of Puerto Rico. Following a brief, two-week long career as a student at the United States Military Academy at West Point with Douglas MacArthur, Sandburg chose to attend Lombard College in Galesburg. He left college without a degree in 1902.

Sandburg lived for a brief period in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during which time he became a member of the Social Democratic Party of the United States and took a strong interest in socialist ideology. He worked as a secretary to Mayor Emil Seidel of Milwaukee, the first socialist mayor in the United States. Sandburg met Lilian Steichen, sister of the famed photographer, Edward Steichen, at the Social Democratic Headquarters in Milwaukee. Lilian and Carl were married in 1908; they would go on to have three daughters.

Sandburg moved to Harbert, Michigan. From 1912 to 1928 he lived in Chicago, nearby Evanston and Elmhurst. During this time he began work on his series of biographies on Abraham Lincoln, which would eventually earn him his Pulitzer Prize in history (for Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, 1940).

In 1945, the Sandburg family moved from the Midwest, where they'd spent most of their lives, to the Connemara estate, in Flat Rock, North Carolina. Connemara was ideal for the family, as it gave Mr. Sandburg an entire mountain top to roam and enough solitude for him to write. It also provided Mrs. Sandburg over 30 acres of pasture to raise and graze her prize-winning dairy goats.

Works

File:RootabagaStories.jpg

Rootabaga Stories

Much of Carl Sandburg's poetry, such as "Chicago", focused on Chicago, Illinois, where he spent time as a reporter for the Chicago Daily News and the Day Book. His most famous description of the city is as "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 also beloved by generations of children for his Rootabaga Stories and Rootabaga Pigeons, a series of whimsical, sometimes melancholy stories he originally created for his own daughters. The Rootabaga Stories were born of Sandburg's desire for "American fairy tales" to match American childhood. He felt that the European stories involving royalty and knights were inappropriate, and so populated his stories with skyscrapers, trains, corn fairies and the "Five Marrrrvelous Pretzels".

Here is an incomplete list of Sandburg's works:

In Reckless Ecstasy (1904) (poetry)
Chicago Poems (1916) (poetry)
Cornhuskers (1918) (poetry)
Smoke and Steel (1920) (poetry)
Rootabaga Stories (1920) (children's stories)
Slabs of the Sunburnt West (1922) (poetry)
More Rootabaga Stories (1923) (children's stories)
Selected Poems (1926) (poetry)
Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years (1926) (biography)
The American Songbag (1927) (folk songs)
Good Morning, America (1928) (poetry)
Steichen the Photographer (1929) (history)
Mary Lincoln: Wife and Widow (1932) (biography)
The People, Yes (1936) (poetry)
Abraham Lincoln: The War Years (1939) (biography)
Home Front Memo (1943) (essays)
The New American Songbag (1950) (folk songs)
Complete Poems (1950) (poetry)
Always the Young Strangers (1953) (autobiography)
The Family of Man (1955) (exhibition catalog) (introduction; images compiled by Edward Steichen)
Harvest Poems, 1910-1960 (1960) (poetry)
Honey and Salt (1963) (poetry)
The Letters of Carl Sandburg (1968) (autobiographical/correspondence) (edited by Herbert Mitgang)
Breathing Tokens (poetry by Sandburg, edited by Margaret Sandburg) (1978) (poetry)
Ever the Winds of Chance (1983) (autobiography) (started by Sandburg, completed by Margaret Sandburg and George Hendrick)

Memorials

Sandburg's home of 22 years in Flat Rock, Henderson County, North Carolina is preserved by the National Park Service as the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site.

Carl Sandburg College is located in Sandburg's birthplace of Galesburg, Illinois.

Carl Sandburg Village is a Chicago urban renewal project of the 1960's located in the Near North Side, Chicago. Financed by the city, it is located between Clark and LaSalle St. between Division Street and North Ave. Solomon & Cordwell, architects. In 1979 Carl Sandburg Village was converted to condomonium ownership.

Carl Sandburg's boyhood home in Galesburg is now operated by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency as the Carl Sandburg State Historic Site. The site contains the cottage Sandburg was born in, a modern museum, the rock under which he and his wife Lilian are buried, and a performance venue.

In 1951, Carl Sandburg High School was dedicated in Orland Park, IL. Mr. Sandburg was in attendance, and stretched what was supposed to be a one hour event into several hours, regaling students with songs and stories. Years later, he returned to the school with no identification and, appearing as a vagabond, was thrown out by the principal. When he later returned with I.D., the embarrassed principal canceled the rest of the school day and held an assembly to honor the visit.^{[citation needed]}

The Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign possesses the Carl Sandburg collection and archives. The bulk of the collection was purchased directly from Carl Sandburg and his family, with many smaller collections having been donated by his family and purchased from outside sources.

Sandburg in song

Carl Sandburg is referred to in Sufjan Stevens' song "Come on! Feel the Illinoise!" off his Illinois album. The song speaks of Carl appearing as a ghost, and questioning "Are you writing from the heart?".

He also appears in a live version of the Bob Dylan song "Talkin' World War III Blues" performed at Philharmonic Hall, New York City on October 31, 1964 in the line "Now all of the people can be all right part of the time, and some of the people can be part right all the time, and even all the people can be all right part of the time, but not all the people can be all right all the time. Carl Sandburg said that." Other versions say, "I think Abraham Lincoln said that."

Sandburg's poem "Prairie" and excerpts from several others are featured in the Emmy Award-winning PBS musical documentary The Song and The Slogan. The video features opera singer Jerry Hadley, narrator David Hartman with the music of Daniel Steven Crafts.

For his album, Parades and Panoramas: 25 Songs Collected by Carl Sandburg for the American Songbag, Dan Zanes chose twenty-five songs from Sandburg's song/folklore compilation, The American Songbag.

External links

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Carl Sandburg

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Carl Sandburg

Credits

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@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 ==Biography==
-[[Image:Carl Sandburg mural FLG AZ USA 6851.jpg|left|thumb|230px| Carl Sandburg, from a much larger mural painting, [[Flagstaff, Arizona|Flagstaff]], [[Arizona]].]]
+Born in Galesburg, Illinois, Carl Sandburg was raised in a relatively poor family of Swedish immigrants in a rural region of the American Midwest. Sandburg youth was spent working to help support the family home; he had little time for education, and from the age of 11 on he worked on the wheat fields, as wel as working oddjobs as a bricklayer, barber, and truck driver.
-During the [[Spanish-American War]], Sandburg enlisted in the [[6th Illinois Infantry]], and he participated in the landing at [[Guánica, Puerto Rico|Guánica]] on [[July 25]], [[1898]] during the invasion of [[Puerto Rico]].  Following a brief (two-week) career as a student at [[United States Military Academy|West Point]] with [[Douglas MacArthur]], Sandburg chose to attend [[Lombard College]] in Galesburg. He left college without a degree in 1902.
+During the [[Spanish-American War]], Sandburg enlisted in the 6th Illinois Infantry, and he participated in the landing at Guánica on July 25, 1898 during the invasion of [[Puerto Rico]].  Following a brief, two-week long career as a student at the United States Military Academy at West Point with [[Douglas MacArthur]], Sandburg chose to attend Lombard College in Galesburg. He left college without a degree in 1902.
-Sandburg lived for a brief period in [[Milwaukee, Wisconsin]], during which he became a member of the [[Social Democratic Party (United States)|Social Democratic Party]] and took a strong interest in the [[socialist]] community. He worked as a secretary to Mayor [[Emil Seidel]], the first [[socialist]] mayor in the [[United States]].
+Sandburg lived for a brief period in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during which time he became a member of the Social Democratic Party of the United States and took a strong interest in socialist ideology. He worked as a secretary to Mayor Emil Seidel of Milwaukee, the first socialist mayor in the United States. Sandburg met Lilian Steichen, sister of the famed photographer, [[Edward Steichen]], at the Social Democratic Headquarters in Milwaukee. Lilian and Carl were married in 1908; they would go on to have three daughters.
-Sandburg met Lilian Steichen, sister of the famed photographer, [[Edward Steichen]], at the Social Democratic Headquarters. Lilian (nicknamed "Paus'l" by her mother and "Paula" by Carl) and Carl were married in 1908; they would go on to have three daughters.
 Sandburg moved to Harbert, Michigan. From 1912 to 1928 he lived in Chicago, nearby [[Evanston, Illinois|Evanston]] and [[Elmhurst, Illinois|Elmhurst]].  During this time he began work on his series of biographies on [[Abraham Lincoln]], which would eventually earn him his [[Pulitzer Prize]] in [[history]] (for ''Abraham Lincoln: The War Years'', 1940).