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When Carl Sandburg died in 1967, President Lyndon Johnson was among the first to sing his praises. “Carl Sandburg,” the president declared, “was more than the voice of America, more than the poet of its strength and genius. He was America.” Johnson’s feelings were not unique. Americans everywhere cherished Sandburg, believing his verse celebrated their spirit and speech as well as championed their cause.

!ß(OBOßATß(EARTß Sandburg grew up in America’s heartland in Galesburg, Illinois. From his Swedish immigrant parents, August and Clara Sandburg, he learned to value hard work and education. His family’s poverty, however, forced Sandburg to curtail his schooling at 13 in order to go to work. He labored at various jobs, ranging from shining shoes to delivering milk. When he turned 19, he left home to explore the American West, becoming one of the many hoboes who hopped freight trains in order to travel free.

3OCIALß!CTIVISTß When the Spanish-American War erupted in 1898, Sandburg served for eight months in Puerto Rico. After his return, he studied at Lombard College but left without receiving a

diploma. Overtaken once again by wanderlust, he rambled about the

country, soaking up America’s sights and songs. When

he ran out of money, he returned to the Midwest, writing for journals in Chicago and joining the lecture circuit. His skill as an orator eventually earned him a job in Milwaukee as an organizer for the Wisconsin Social-Democratic Party. While living there, he married Lillian Steichen, who, like Sandburg, was committed to fighting social injustice.

,ITERARYß#ELEBRITYß In 1912, the couple moved to Chicago, where Sandburg became a reporter, editorial writer, and columnist for the Chicago Daily News. Two years later, his verse began to appear in Poetry, a prominent literary magazine. With the publication of his poetry collections Chicago Poems, Cornhuskers, and Smoke and Steel, Sandburg gained a reputation as the poet of the common people. The poetry readings he gave further heightened his popularity. Interspersing poetry with commentary and folk songs sung in his melodious baritone, Sandburg enthralled audiences wherever he went.

Sandburg won a number of awards and honors, including the 1951 Pulitzer Prize for poetry for Complete Poems and the 1939 Pulitzer Prize for history for Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, the last volume in a six-volume biography.

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TX_L11PE-u05s22-brChi.indd 929 9/8/09 10:28:19 AM

Focus and Motivate

Selection Resources

READING 3 Understand the structure and elements of poetry. 7 Draw conclusions about how an author’s sensory language creates imagery in literary text. RC-11(A) Reflect on understanding to monitor comprehension.

about the poetAfter students read the biography, have them identify details in Sandburg’s life that allowed him to become “the voice of America.” Possible answer: Sandburg could speak for America because he experienced poverty and was self-made, he worked at many jobs, he traveled widely around the country, and he was active in politics.

notable quote“Nothing happens unless first a dream.” —Carl Sandburg

Ask students how following a dream might have helped Sandburg rise from poverty to fame.

TEKS Focus

RESOURCE MANAGER UNIT 5Plan and Teach, pp. 111–118Literary Analysis and Reading

Skill, pp. 119–122†*DIAGNOSTIC AND SELECTION

TESTSSelection Tests, pp. 245–248

BEST PRACTICES TOOLKITVisualizing, p. A11

TECHNOLOGY

Teacher One Stop DVD-ROM

Student One Stop DVD-ROM

Audio Anthology CD

ExamView Test Generator on the Teacher One Stop

Print resources are on the Teacher One Stop DVD-ROM and on thinkcentral.com.

* Resources for Differentiation † Also in Spanish ‡ In Haitian Creole and Vietnamese

L11TE-u05s08-chic_TX.indd 928L11TE-u05s08-chic_TX.indd 928 9/29/09 8:52:49 AM9/29/09 8:52:49 AM

Teach

Would you rather live in the city or the country?“If you would be known, and not know, vegetate in a village; if you would know, and not be known, live in a city,” wrote the poet Reverend Charles Caleb Colton. What benefits and drawbacks do you associate with city living? with country living? What kind of place inspires you the most? In the poems that follow, Carl Sandburg explores different settings that have affected him.QUICKWRITE Think about a city or a place in the country where you would like to live. What aspects of this setting particularly appeal to you? How might living there enrich your life? Spend a few minutes writing in response to these questions.

literary analysis: tone and dictionSome poems exhibit a subtle tone that is difficult to perceive and nearly impossible to describe. Others practically break forth with trumpets in the first stanza. Whether gently or boldly, poets generally convey tone, or attitude toward the subject, through diction (word choice and syntax) and choiceof details. In the first lines of “Chicago,” Carl Sandburg’s diction creates a tone of admiration for a hard-working city: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. . . .Read these two poems by Sandburg aloud to help you identify the tone of each. If you read with emotion, your tone of voice may provide you with clues to the poem’s tone.Review: Personification

reading skill: synthesize detailsIn “Chicago,” Sandburg presents a long list, or catalog, of qualities, images, and statements about the city. Collectively, this sensory language helps create vivid imagery of the city. As you read, pay close attention to the sensory language that Sandburg employs, and note how he uses it to create imagery. After you read the poem, you’ll be asked to synthesizenumerous details into a single, coherent impression.

Complete the activities in your Reader/Writer Notebook.

929

TX_L11PE-u05s22-brChi.indd 929 9/8/09 10:28:19 AM

differentiated instruction

Would you rather live in the CITY or the COUNTRY? Ask the question and elicit students’ choices about the place they would like to live through a show of hands. Pause for discussion after the Colton quotation and to allow students to list benefits and drawbacks of city and country life. Have them refer to their lists as they com-plete the QUICKWRITE.

for struggling readersConcept Support: Synthesize Details Tell students that synthesizing means putting different parts together to form a new whole. Compare the process to putting ingredients together to cook a recipe, or putting pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together to make a picture appear. Similarly, when a reader synthesizes details in a poem, the reader looks at each detail individually, forms a mental picture of it, and then combines the separate details to

form a larger mental picture that unifies the whole poem and expresses its overall feeling or meaning. For practice, have students mention details in the words of “The Star-Spangled Banner” or another song of their choosing. Then have them describe the over-all picture they synthesize from the details.

TEKS Focus

Model the Skill: synthesize details

Tell students that imagery created by a poet through sensory details can be taken in as an overall impression. Reread the lines from “Chicago” on page 929 and point out that the lines give the impression of a strong and capable city. The city is personi-fied with occupations such as “Butcher,” “Maker,” and “Handler.”GUIDED PRACTICE Ask students to name other details that back the impression. They may name “Stormy, husky, brawling,” and “Big Shoulders.”

RESOURCE MANAGER—Copy MasterSynthesize Details p. 121

R E A D I N G S K I L L

Model the Skill: tone and diction

To examine an example of Sandburg’s dic-tion, read aloud the “Chicago” excerpt on page 929. Then read aloud these lines from “Grass,” another Sandburg poem:

What place is this?Where are we now?

Point out that the lines from “Grass” are simpler in diction and quieter in tone.GUIDED PRACTICE Have students cite examples of word choice, syntax, and detail choice that convey tone in the two examples.

L I T E R A R Y A N A L Y S I S

chicago / grass 929

TEKS 3, 7

TEKS RC-11(A)

synthe

L11TE-u05s08-chic_TX.indd 929L11TE-u05s08-chic_TX.indd 929 10/22/09 8:56:30 AM10/22/09 8:56:30 AM

��� unit 5: the harlem renaissance and modernism

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: A

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 wanton1 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. B

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,

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differentiated instruction

R E A D I N G S K I L L S

L I T E R A R Y A N A L Y S I S

Practice and Apply

summary

This free verse poem describes the city of

Chicago as Sandburg knew it in the early

1900s. The speaker personifies the city and

praises its hard-working energy, while also

noticing its crime, corruption, and poverty.

for english language learners Vocabulary: Suffixes [mixed-readiness

pairs] Many descriptive words in “Chicago”

end in the suffixes -er (“Butcher,” “Maker”)

or -ing (“singing,” “bragging,” “laughing”).

Review the meanings of the suffixes with

students. Write the root words on the board

and ask for their meanings. Then ask groups

to figure out the meanings of the words with

the suffixes added.

for struggling readersOptions for Reading: Audio Recording

• Have students listen to the poems on the

Audio Anthology CD (also recommended for

English language learners) while they read

along in their books. Have students listen

for the tones in which the two poems are

read.

• Suggest that students note when the

reader pauses or changes reading volume.

Explain that pace, volume, and pauses can

provide clues to the poem’s tone.

read with a purpose

Help students set a purpose for reading. Tell

them to read the poems to find what Chicago

and grass want to do and why.

a Model the Skill:

synthesize details

Read aloud lines 1–5. Tell students the

epithets give you the impression that

Chicago was a national railroad hub, the

center of meatpacking and grain shipping.

Possible answer: They convey that the

city’s economy and industry were booming.

IF STUDENTS NEED HELP . . . Help them jot

notes on the meaning of each epithet in a

Two-Column Chart like this one:

Epithet What It Means

Hog Butcher for the World

Makes pork sold around the world

BEST PRACTICES TOOLKIT—Transparency

Two-Column Chart p. A25

b Model the Skill:

tone and diction

Read aloud lines 6–10, emphasizing both

the harshness and, in lines 9–10, the poet’s

rebuke to the city’s critics.

Possible answer: The phrase “my city”

(line 9) suggests the speaker’s affection

for Chicago. The image of Chicago “with

lifted head singing so proud to be alive”

(line 10) reveals his pride in it. He also dis-

misses critics who “sneer” at the city

(line 9).

930 unit 5

TEKS RC-11(A)

TEKS 3, 7

L11TE-u05s08-chic_TX 930 2/19/09 10:54:44 AM

chicago ���

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, andunder 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.

15

20

25

South of the Loop (1936), Charles Turzak. Color woodcut, Image 102/3˝ × 113/4˝, sheet 111/4˝ × 15˝. Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, 1992.73 © Joan Turzak Van Hees.

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tiered discussion prompts

In lines 18–22, use these prompts to help

students understand the personification of

Chicago in the poem:

Connect What mental pictures does this

description bring to your mind? Would you

like to know this person? Why or why not?

Students’ responses should be consistent with

the text description and should convey a

personal response.

Interpret In what ways is the description

positive? In what ways is it negative?

Possible answer: It is positive in its depiction

of strength and enjoyment, and negative in

using the words “ignorant” and “bragging.”

Evaluate Is the person described here an

appropriate symbol for a great Ameri-

can city? Why or why not? Possible an-

swers: Yes, because he displays a city’s

strength and energy and hard work. No,

because a city is composed of many kinds

of people of both genders.

Analyze Visuals

Possible answer: The vertical lines emphasize

the height in the buildings; the horizontal

lines of the train tracks emphasize the city’s

geographical extent. Both kinds of lines also

emphasize the city’s size and power.

About the Art This woodcut by Charles Turzak

(1899–1986) shows the artist’s facility with

color woodcut engraving. Turzak created a

number of woodcuts which feature the city of

Chicago. This engraving hangs in the museum

at Northwestern University. Northwestern

is also the subject of a number of a series of

Turzak prints.

for struggling readers

Develop Reading Fluency Remind students

that in addition to the repetition of words

and phrases and patterns of stressed syl-

lables, a poem’s rhythm can be created by

punctuation. Read aloud lines 18–26, empha-

sizing the commas. Then ask students to read

the lines chorally.

for advanced learners/ap

Evaluate Tone Although Carl Sandburg has

been an extremely popular American poet

for almost a century, some readers consider

his work sentimental. Invite students to

evaluate the tone of “Chicago” and decide if

the poem portrays the city sentimentally or

realistically—or both. Have students provide

specific details as examples as they share

their responses.

chicago 931

TEKS 12

L11TE-u05s08-chic_TX 931 2/19/09 10:55:00 AM

��� unit 5: the harlem renaissance and modernism

Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.1 Shovel them under and let me work—

I am the grass; I cover all. C

And pile them high at Gettysburg And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.2

Shovel them under and let me work. Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:

What place is this? Where are we now?

I am the grass. Let me work. D

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Le Plateau de Bolante (1917), Félix Vallotton. Oil on canvas. Musée d’Histoire Contemporaine, Paris. © Musée d’Histoire Contemporaine-BDIC.

differentiated instruction

L I T E R A R Y A N A L Y S I S : Review

L I T E R A R Y A N A L Y S I S

summary

The grass growing over battlefields speaks of

its role in healing the wounds of war.

Analyze Visuals

Activity Ask students what point of the

process described by the poem this painting

illustrates. Possible answer: The painting

shows an empty, devastated battleground,

waiting for the healing power of the grass.

About the Art This stark painting by Swiss

painter Félix Vallotton (1865–1925) portrays the

image that World War I soldiers saw—unend-

ing devastated earth.

selection wrap–up

READ WITH A PURPOSE Now that students

have read the poems, ask them what task is

specified for each of the personified subjects.

They may say both Chicago and grass need to

keep working and producing.

for struggling readersClarify Meaning Make sure that students

understand lines 7–9. Restate line 7 this

way: “In two years and in ten years, pas-

sengers will ask train conductors . . .” Clarify

that the questions in lines 8–9 imply that

the places will look so ordinary that passen-

gers will ask the conductor what is special

about these places.

for advanced learners/apAnalyze Author’s Style and Theme Point

out that “Chicago” and “Grass” are quite

different in subject matter, tone, and

diction. Ask students what makes both

poems recognizable as works by Carl

Sandburg. Invite them to consider both

style and theme in their analyses. Have

students share their ideas with the class.

c personification

Possible answer: The speaker is the grass

growing on the battlefields. Its role is to

replace death and loss with new growth.

IF STUDENTS NEED HELP . . . Have them

use a Visualizing organizer to translate the

poem’s imagery into mental pictures.

BEST PRACTICES TOOLKIT—Transparency

Visualizing p. A11

d tone and diction

Possible answer: “And pile them high”

(lines 4-5), “shovel them under and let me

work” (lines 2, 6), “I am the grass (lines 3,

10). The tone is serious and calm. Words like

“pile” and “shovel“ denote industriousness.

932 unit 5

TEKS 3, 7

TEKS 12

L11TE-u05s08-chic_TX 932 2/19/09 10:55:30 AM

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Practice and ApplyFor preliminary support of post-reading questions, use these copy masters:

RESOURCE MANAGER—Copy MastersTone and Diction p. 119 Question Support p. 123 Additional selection questions are provided for teachers on page 115.

answers 1. Lines 6–8 present negative aspects of crime,

corruption, and poverty. 2. “Grass” refers to battlefields of the Napole-

onic Wars, the Civil War, and World War I.Possible answers:

3. teks focus Synthesize Details The people of Chicago are hardworking, optimistic laborers.

4. teks focus Tone and Diction The tone of “Chicago” is loud, dramatic, and boisterous, with long lines and lists of epithets, while that of “Grass” is quiet, solemn, and elegiac, with shorter lines and calm repetition.

5. The person who personifies Chicago is a young, pugnacious, optimistic laborer. His most important traits are described in lines 18–19 and 21, which show the city’s vitality.

6. The long, flowing, rhythmic lines demon-strate Chicago’s uncontainable energy. The fact that the poem also contains short lines shows the city’s variety and unpredictability.

Assess and ReteachAssessDIAGNOSTIC AND SELECTION TESTS

Selection Test A pp. 245–246Selection Test B/C pp. 247–248

Interactive Selection Test on thinkcentral.comReteachLevel Up Online Tutorials on thinkcentral.comReteaching Worksheets on thinkcentral.com

Literature Lesson 29: PersonificationLiterature Lesson 40: Word Choice

and DictionLiterature Lesson 43: ToneReading Lesson 14: Synthesizing

Information

TEKS 3, 7, RC-11(A)

ti

7. “Chicago”: The speaker loves the city despite its negative aspects, suggesting a theme that people can love flaws. “Grass”: Death and life appear in the same place.

8. Whitman’s influence is seen in Sandburg’s use of cataloging, litany, repetition, and parallelism. Both poets use grandiose tones and the diction of their times. Both love American cities, the working class, and democracy. Students may observe that both poets revere an animated nature and could compare and contrast line 3 in “Grass” (“I am the grass, I cover all.”) with

line 41 in “Song of Myself” (“The smallest sprout shows there really is no death.”).

9. Students may say that Sandburg’s poetry has an organic form, such as the unifying effect of repetition and litany at the beginning and end of “Chicago.”

Would you rather live in the CITY or the COUNTRY? Students’ answers will vary but should reflect careful consideration of the chosen place.

chicago / grass 933

L11TE-u05s08-chic_TX.indd 933L11TE-u05s08-chic_TX.indd 933 9/29/09 8:53:04 AM9/29/09 8:53:04 AM