《美国文学》课件二十五.ppt

* * Lecture 23 Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) 1. Sandburg’s position in American literary history Sandburg is the greatest of the Chicago poets that became known in the Chicago Renaissance (1912-1925), the other Chicago poets including Edgar Lee Masters (1869-1950), and Vachel Lindsay (1879-1931). These poets, along with other writers and artists in Chicago, made Chicago a center of literature and arts. In popularity, Sandburg came next after Robert Frost (1874-1963). Chicago Sandburg kept in step with the development of modern American poetry. He wrote in free verse and in colloquial and slangy language. His contribution to the colloquial style in American literature should be given due recognition. He was awarded the American Poetry Society prize in 1919 and 1920, and the Pulitzer Prize in 1951. Sandburg stood alongside the other great masters of modern poetry in American literary history. 2. Sandburg’s views Sandburg’s most cherished ideal in life was to be “the word of the people,” to articulate the thoughts, feelings, and aspirations of ordinary people; he wrote chiefly “to help the sick and give the people hope”; he knew the importance of people; he thought the people who have done the great work of the world; he was confident that the people will one day rise and come into their own (“I Am the People, the Mob”, 1916; “The People, Yes”, 1936). Sandburg did see the evils of modern life, but he was optimistic; his attitudes toward the industrial and mechanical civilization that America was developing were essentially affirmative. 3. Sandburg’s imagist poems Sandburg was associated with the Imagists and wrote well-known Imagist poems such as “Fog,” “The Harbor,” “Lost--,” “Monotone,” and “Nocturne in a Deserted Brickyard.” His longer poems also show Imagist influence. 1) Lost – DESOLATE and lone All night long on the lake Where fog trails and mist creeps, The whistle of a boat Calls and crie