5 Most Popular Poems by Carl Sandburg

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  • A Father To His Son

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    in Famous Family Poems

    Carl Sandburg lived from 1878-1967. Some of his works have received Pulitzer Prizes, and Sandburg had a middle school named after him. In this poem, a father is thinking about the advice he wishes to impart to his son.

    A father sees his son nearing manhood.
    What shall he tell that son?
    "Life is hard; be steel; be a rock."
    And this might stand him for the storms

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  • A Dream Girl

    Famous Poem

    in Famous Love Poems

    Carl Sandburg was an American poet who lived from 1878-1967. Due to the financial strain in his family, he was only able to attend school through 8th grade, but his family valued diligence and education. Later in life, he did get to attend Lombard College for a tuition-free education because he served in the Spanish-American War. In this poem, the speaker talks of a girl he will meet one day. He hopes she will come into his life, but he knows it might be just a dream.

    You will come one day in a waver of love,
    Tender as dew, impetuous as rain,
    The tan of the sun will be on your skin,
    The purr of the breeze in your murmuring speech,

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  • Fog

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    in Famous Nature Poems

    “Fog” was part of Carl Sandburg’s first poetry collection, Chicago Poems, published in 1916. Sandburg wrote simply and was known to use the “language of the people.” This poem was no different. He used simple imagery, personification and a metaphor to compare fog to the movement of a cat. Sandburg was inspired to write this poem when he saw the fog roll in to the Chicago harbor.

    The fog comes
    on little cat feet.

    It sits looking

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    Featured Shared Story

    My dear neighbor, Nellie, who is in her 80s, asked me, as I am an artist, to paint a picture for her to give to her husband for Christmas. She said he loves the poem "Here Comes the Fog" by...

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  • Theme In Yellow

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    in Famous Children Poems

    Carl Sandburg was an American poet who lived from 1878-1967. This poem captures the beauty and fun of fall from the perspective of a pumpkin. Halloween can be a spooky holiday, but this poem brings attention to the harmless activity of searching for the right pumpkin with children and then carving a funny face on it for Halloween night.

    I spot the hills
    With yellow balls in autumn.
    I light the prairie cornfields
    Orange and tawny gold clusters

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  • Who Am I?

    Famous Poem

    in Famous Poems

    Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) writes this poem in the form of a free verse riddle. It follows no specific structure or rhyme scheme. When we find out the answer to the riddle, we see that this poem uses personification to describe it. Carl Sandburg’s interest in President Abraham Lincoln (“Honest Abe”) led him to write two multi-volume biographies. These biographies brought Sandburg the honor of the 1939 Pulitzer Prize in History.

    My head knocks against the stars.
    My feet are on the hilltops.
    My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of universal life.
    Down in the sounding foam of primal things I reach my hands and play with pebbles of destiny.

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