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
The introduction to the title poem of Sandburg’s collection “Chicago” are some of the most famous lines of poetry written in the 20th century. The stanza is really nothing but the various nicknames attributed to Chicago, but in this choice, Sandburg effectively situates the city as character with character. The succeeding verse uses language which treats the city as a character, personifying the metropolis into an entity which can be addressed and from which one expects an answer. The poems which make up the collection are primarily character studies which serve to illuminate the human component which gives Chicago is distinctive character celebrated in this opening.
"People like us,
us two,
We own the moon."
The closing stanza of this poem is, like the opening line, punctuated with quotation marks that seems to make it a single thought of two people. The entire thrust of the poem is that these two people in love believe the world belongs to them. More than just the world; the moon as well. The poem is a testament to the myopia of love but is riddle with ambiguity. The couple have no name, there is no description of their age or how long they have been together. The only hint to their identity is mention of leaf mould and potatoes which strongly indicates a rural setting.
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
The opening couplet of this short poem is quite likely the most recognizable lines in Sandburg’s body of work. The entire poem can be easily memorized, the opening imagery is unforgettable and it is the perfect literary work to reference on a foggy day.
Can the rough stuff . . . now a Mississippi steamboat pushes
up the night river with a hoo-hoo-hoo-oo . . . and the green
lanterns calling to the high soft stars . . . a red moon rides
on the humps of the low river hills . . . go to it, O jazzmen.
This entire poem is structured to the rhythm of a jazz composition. The opening stanza introduces the rhythm with reference to drums. As the poem progresses, the melody kicks in and the music begins to take on the raw power of a jazz performance. This final stanza breaks free from the structure and introduces a staccato plethora of imagery that replicates an improvisation riff constructed upon the rhythm and melody which precedes it.
By day the skyscraper looms in the smoke and sun and
has a soul.…
By night the skyscraper looms in the smoke and the stars
and has a soul.
In between these opening and closing lines of the poem are images of the people responsible for giving inanimate structure its soul. The verse is a multitude of imagery as busy and crowded as the building itself: the office workers piling in and out, the elevators filled with people sliding up and down in boxes attached to cables, the people phone lines and electrical wiring that help people to communicate and work with the enclosed darkness, the people who helped construct the skyscraper and the stenographers, lawyers and offices girls working under the every moving hands of the clock. These are the things which allow the skyscraper to have a soul morning, day and night.
