Customer Reviews

The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg: Revised and Expanded Edition

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A magnificent collections by one of the most diverse and gifted minds in American literary history. As a high school English teacher, I often teach the "dark" Sandburg: "Killers," "Grass," "Iron," and other pessimistic works by Sandburg. This volume takes that pessimism and puts it into a much more realistic context, dealing with World War I, the Great Depression, and an era of American History to which few of us today can relate. Sandburg's poetry is virtually prose in sections, reading very fluidly. It is fascinating to watch his evolution as a writer and as a man throughout the poems he wrote. I rarely sit and just read poetry, but I recommend this volume to my students--and to anyone else reading/listening--for a couple of hours when a novel just doesn't seem right. Some of it is dark, depressing, and mildly disturbing, but he sheds a ray of light often enough to keep one reading. There's something in Sandburg's work for everyone!

I started looking into Sandburg for a school project, but then i was hooked. I had to take this book from the library countless times, because i couldnt get enough of it. You are able to see many sides of Sandbug, and are able to get a hold of what his views are. Overall, it is on of the best books of poetry by any author. Those from the Midwest can really appreciate his descriptions of the region.

Fifty years ago Carl Sandburg's poetry could be found in nearly every library, classroom and (in some form) home in America, but in the hurried twenty-first century, where too much bad poetry has spoiled whole living generations on the art, he is all-but lost to our social consciousness. This poet of freedom (even his poems disobey every respected rule of form) penned verses that celebrated the American spirit as no other writer had since Walt Whitman. If presented with a sampling of his most famous lines, the average American would probably light up and say, "Oh, yeah! Okay, I've heard that one." Reading the collected works of this Midwesterner is full of such moments of re-discovery. All of Sandburg's published books are here, putting his many hundreds of poems on display. His finest work, the controversial, slow-moving, stream of consciousness piece "The People, Yes" alone makes this anthology a gift to modern readers, but many other unexpected gems await to delight, challenge, inform, or taunt with sheer irony. Though some of these poems date back nearly a century, at no time does Sandburg ever sound anything but cutting-edge and post-modern. He is one of the greats for all ages of man.

Some things learned in high school never seem to leave you. Carl Sandburg's poetry about Chicago is beyond memorable; it's mythic. If only American cities were still teaming with production and the creative energy rendered here so robustly by the poet...

"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."

Hemiingway had indicated that Sandburg should have won the Nobel Prize before him. I agree. Its obvious they fed each other artistically and after reading Steinbeck, another Nobel Laureate, its obvious to see this mans influence as well.

Wonderful literature, a keeper on many levels

This book of Carl Sandburg's poems is a real bargain. I'm delighted at

the price I paid-the book is in wonderful condition-I can read until

my eyes turn red and not have to worry about checking it out of the

library over and over again.

Nicely bound. Really does have all of his poems. Good paper quality. Very satisfied.

I read some stuff by Carl Sandburg when I was in high school, but now that I am considering writing as more of an art form I wanted to delve more into poetry, and this book is definately a great collection of one of America's greatest poets

I am a big fan of Sandburg. This is the most complete collection of his works that I have seen. His poetry is so full of strength and hope. Nothing is too frilly but still very beautiful. His poetry always reminds me of the verbal equivalent of a piece of art by Norman Rockwell - true down to the dirt on the skin but so full of awe and respect for his subject. Have a wonderful time reading this collection!

For me Sandburg is the poet of 'immortal lines' gleaned from anthologies. " The cat comes in on little cloud's feet' " Tell me if the lovers are the losers in the tombs, the cool tombs" " Chicago, beefhandler, wheat- stacker of the nation" Sandburg writes clearly and some might say is poetry is just prose chopped up into lines, but he has a strength and a humane sense that I find admirable. He is not given today the attention I believe he deserves. An inspiring poet who should be read more than he is.