Comparing Walt Whitman and Carl Sandburg

                        Comparing Walt Whitman and Carl Sandburg:

        Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This is a saying that has been around for quite sometime now, and still holds the same amount of meaning. Everyone has their own interpretation on what they think is important, but if you take the time and really see it for what it truly is you could end of seeing the beauty/importance. This phrase can easily fit in with what poets Walt Whitman and Carl Sandburg tried to express in their poetry. They are two of the most well known poets of all time. Both men dropped out of school at a young age, but that seemed to not affect their journey to become writers/poets. Each of these poets designed their own style of writing by using a free verse form of poetry. Whitman started out before Sandburg and it is said that Sandburg was strongly influenced by Whitman and used his writings as a form of motivation. They both admired finding the common things in life important as well as significant. Walt Whitman and Carl Sandburg’s works tended to reflect the same themes and through those theme they taught a common lesson. These poets taught the lesson that you should look for the significance in all things and that even simple things have deeper (and sometimes symbolic) meanings.

        Walt Whitman wanted his readers to admire the working class Americans and see the importance and symbolic meaning of the smallest things in life. For example, in Whitman’s writing, “I Hear America Singing” he writes, “The woodcutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the morning……The delicious singing of the mother, or the young wife at work.”  Whitman doesn’t mention the working jobs like doctor or some entrepreneur, but instead goes on and gives recognition to smaller type jobs in America. Whitman in the writing is saying that these people as well “sing” and are important in our lives. The mention of women’s jobs is evident and helps reflect back to lesson that Whitman is trying to teach here. The common things and the people that seem insignificant to us at a glance are actually equally as important as everyone else. Whitman is expressing the fact that Americans are free and the people who work these jobs are worthy. In addition, in Walt Whitman’s piece “Leaves of Grass” he gives something as simple as grass a deeper meaning and significance. Whitman says, “ I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.” In this line Whitman is saying that everything is important. Grass is unimportant yes but Whitman uses it to show that it can have deeper meaning. Grass in this poem is used to show Whitmans love of nature as well which can be seen as a reason someone would want to explain the significance of it in our lives. Furthermore, Whitman uses symbols to portray the theme that common things are important. He does this also in his work Leaves of Grass. Whitman makes grass a recurring symbol because as mentioned it helps show that the small things in life actually can represent how life really is and that is an important thing to have. Whitman all together turns the small the into big things and gives notice to the unnoticed.

Carl Sandburg took places and items to help teach the lesson that everything in our lives have deeper means with significance. For example in Sandburg’s poem Chicago he writes about prostitution in Chicago and shootings that happen in the city by saying, “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…….gunman go free and then kill again.” Although these to occur in the city Sandburg later after reflecting on the horrors goes on into how Chicago looks bad on the outside to others, but it is actually a great city. The theme as said is about showing that there is importance and beauty in all things even when it doesn’t look like it and this fits the description of how people see Chicago. People have to see the joy and excitement of the city and Sandburg does a good job painting an image of just how vibrant the city really is. In addition, Sandburg also gives significance and meaning to an item like a fence. His poem, A Fence, Sandburg says, “As a fence, it is a masterpiece, and will shut off the rabble and all vegabonds and hungry men and all children looking for a place to play.” In this line he is talking about keeping undesirable people away with a fence. Sandburg is giving a deeper meaning to a fence by showing that it represents protection. People build fences maybe because they simply like them or because they want to keep others away. The entire poem has different levels of meaning, but something you can take out of this is the way Sandburg continues to find the ordinary and common things important to people. Furthermore, Sandburg wrote the poem Fog which expresses that there is beauty in an ordinary world. Sandburg makes comparisons throughout the short lined poem about how Fog is like the movement of a cat. It is basically stating that like a cat fog comes and goes as it pleases, but you’ll always see and come across it no matter what. Carl Sandburg takes these three poems and gives ordinary things deeper meaning than what one would normally think, and compares it to common things in our lives.