“Chicago” is, perhaps, Carl Sandburg’s most famous poem. He lived at 4646 N. Hermitage when he wrote this and the other poems in Chicago Poems. A Chicago Tribute Marker of Distinction designates the home as a Chicago Landmark.
The original photo and reprints are available from here:Carl Sandburg Chicago Home
Chicago, 1916
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.From Chicago Poems (Dover Thrift Editions)
1 comment:
While attending McPherson Elementary at the corner of Wolcott & Lawrence, I competed in District Oratory competitions each year from 4th-8th grade. The very first year, an upperclassmen by the name of Bridgette had chosen "Chicago" as her piece to recite. I was 9, and It was my first time hearing the poem. I immediately fell in love with it. She would stomp her foot at certain points and really brought the passion of the poem alive.
At the time, another classmate lived in this very home & held parties and the like. I never knew it was the home of Carl Sandburg until I was an adult and discovered its history online. How funny that this house was a part of my childhood in the 80s & 90s, and I had no idea the author of one of my favorite poems lived there & wrote this historical piece within the same walls where we hung out and had our fair share of teenage trouble..
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