Carl Sandburg was a famous American poet born in 1878 in Illinois to Swedish immigrants. He traveled and worked at a young age, influencing his writing. In college, he joined a writers club where members critiqued each other's poetry, helping develop his talents. Later he became a journalist in Chicago. His poems were published in 1914, making him known in the literary world. He is best known for his poem "Chicago", which personifies the city as a tough, industrialized place that is constantly rebuilding and growing despite its flaws. Sandburg captured the spirit of the city through vivid language and lived there until his death in 1967.

2. About Carl
Sandburg
Carl was born in Galesburg on January 6, 1878, to
the Swedish immigrants August and Clara Anderson
Sandburg. With Carl traveling and working at a
young age influenced his writing views. When Carl
went to college he joined the Poor Writers Club
which is when members of the club come together
to read and criticize poetry. Going to college is what
really shaped Sandburg's literary talents. Later in life
the responsibilities of his marriage and family
changed his career to come back to Illinois to
become a journalist for Chicago Daily News. In 1914
is when Carl became known in the literary world
when his poems appeared in a magazine of poems.
Carl died in 1967 at his home in North Carolina.

3. 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 (Sandburg,Carl.page599-600)
Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.

4. Carl Sandburg's poem style is personification. Personification is “the
attribution of human characteristics to things, abstract ideas, etc, as for
literary or artistic effect”(Dictionary). The poem personifies the city of
Chicago as a big tough super hero kind of city. “City with Big
Shoulders” is like a tough man that is always working in the
industrialization part of the city. This poem also shows, how much Carl
loves his city even though it is not perfect. The words throughout the
poem are very vivid, to help the readers picture in their minds what
Chicago is about. “Hog butcher”, “tool maker”, “stacker of wheat”,
“player with railroads and the Nations Freight Handler” these words
are used in the poem to talk about the industrializing and farming
parts of Chicago. “Stormy, Husky, brawling” is showing what the city
looks like with all the work going on in the factories to the farm lands.
“Painted women” are prostitutes luring in farm boys: farm boys have
money, while coming to the city to trade and sell their goods. “Seeing
the city as evil”, out of evil good comes along; the city is growing and
booming instead of going downhill. “Building, breaking, rebuilding”,
means that Chicago is still growing even today.

11. Works citied
• Dictionary.com Personifaction