Analysis of Chicago
Carl Sandburg 1878 (Galesburg) – 1967 (Flat Rock)
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 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.
Scheme | AXBCX XXXXDXDXBDXXCCXDX CX ACCCC EXXXXFXF XXEX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110101 1101011 10110010110 101010 1010110 11111100101111 111101010011 10011 01111110011011 1111101010111 101 011111100101110 1011001011101 11010 0101011111111 1111100111101 0111 101101010110110 1111010101010 1001010010111011 11101110110010 10110 1101111011010 101010010100 1 10 10 10 1010010 1001111011101 11 10010010110010101 11 10101110010111 101010 1001011011101 01011011010 100101010101 1110101111 101101011101 101101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,591 |
Words | 287 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 17, 2, 5, 8, 4 |
Lines Amount | 41 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 207 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 47 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 28, 2023
- 1:26 min read
- 260 Views
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"Chicago" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 31 Oct. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/4635/chicago>.
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