Carl Sandburg
Carl Sandburg (1878–1967), the Pulitzer-winning poet of working-class America, made free verse a hymn to ordinary people — from “Chicago” to his monumental life of Lincoln.
Theme
democracy
4 poems
democracy
Song of Myself (Selected Excerpts)
Walt Whitman’s vast act of self-celebration, where a single “I” absorbs the whole world and waits “somewhere” for every future reader. Selected text and analysis.
I Hear America Singing
An anthem of labor and individuality, “I Hear America Singing” gathers many voices into one democratic chorus.
Walt Whitman
The Brooklyn printer who reinvented poetry: across forty years and a single ever-growing book, Leaves of Grass, Whitman pioneered free verse and gave America its most expansive voice.