American Masters

MEMORY IS WHEN YOU LOOK BACK AND THE ANSWERS FLOAT IN TO WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE. SOMETIMES WRECKING THE IMAGES AND PROCEEDING AGAIN TO RECONSTRUCT THE MANY LITTLE INVOLVED ANSWERS AND MORE INVOLVED THAN ANY... HOW? HOW?

HOW DID IT HAPPEN? WOULD YOU RATHER BE REMEMBERED AS A POET, OR BIOGRAPHER, A HISTORIAN, OR WHAT? I DON'T NEED TO BE CALLED EITHER POET, HISTORIAN, BIOGRAPHER... TRUE SOCIALIST.

CARL WAS A MAN OF THE PEOPLE, A POET OF THE PEOPLE. GUITAR PLAYER, FOLK SINGER... CARL SANDBURG ONCE LISTED HIS FORMULA FOR PERSONAL HAPPINESS IN LIFE. HE SAID...

TO BE OUT OF JAIL, TO EAT REGULAR, TO GET WHAT I WRITE PRINTED, AND THEN A LITTLE LOVE, AT HOME AND A LITTLE OUTSIDE. BY HIS OWN STANDARDS, SANDBURG LED A GOOD LIFE. "HOG BUTCHER FOR THE WORLD, TOOL MAKER, STACKER OF WHEAT." "THE FOG COMES ON LITTLE CAT FEET." AN INCARNATION OF AMERICAN, OF A CERTAIN KIND OF AMERICAN CULTURE -- WHITE-MANED, SOMEWHAT ELEGANT AND ROUGHHEWN AT THE SAME TIME.

APPLAUSE

SANDBURG LIVED HIS LIFE IN THE CENTER OF EVENTS OF THE 20th CENTURY. HE WAS FOLKSY. HE WAS POPULIST. BUT LIKE MANY GREAT AMERICAN POPULISTS, HE REALLY BELIEVED IN THE PLAIN PEOPLE AND COMMON PEOPLE, AND SAW HIS WORK AS FIGHTING FOR THEM.

Narrator

CARL SANDBURG'S LIFE WAS A REMARKABLE JOURNEY... FROM POVERTY AND ISOLATION AS AN IMMIGRANT'S SON, TO THE HALLS OF CONGRESS, THE WHITE HOUSE, "THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW." A MAN WHO HAD ONCE ARGUED AMERICA'S ONLY HOPE WAS TOTAL ANARCHY, EVOLVED INTO ONE OF THE 20th CENTURY'S MOST OUTSPOKEN ADVOCATES FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND THE IDEALS OF DEMOCRACY. HE BECAME AN ICON, A CELEBRITY OF A TYPE THE WORLD HAD NEVER KNOWN, HIS LIFE AND HIS WORK THE EMBODIMENT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM. BUT WHEN CARL SANDBURG DIED IN JULY 1967, HIS STRONG VOICE FELL SILENT, AND HIS LEGACY BEGAN TO FADE FROM LITERARY PROMINENCE.

OUTSIDE OF A HANDFUL OF POEMS, MUCH OF HIS WORK WAS DISPARAGED OR FORGOTTEN. COME AND SHOW ME ANOTHER CITY WITH LIFTED HEADS SINGING SO PROUD TO BE ALIVE AND COARSE AND STRONG AND CUNNING. BROODING AND MUTTERING, MEMORIES OF SHACKLES... BUT IF SANDBURG WAS FORGOTTEN, HE IS NOW BEING REMEMBERED AND REDISCOVERED.

IN FACT, SANDBURG HAD TO DESTROY THAT PREVAILING MYTH. WRITERS, ARTISTS, SCHOLARS, PERFORMERS ARE TAKING A NEW LOOK AT THE COMPLEX AND TRULY UNPARALLELED LIFE AND WORK OF CARL SANDBURG.

Sandburg

I WAS BORN A LITTLE AFTER MIDNIGHT, MY MOTHER TOLD ME. KNOTS COME LOOSE, LONG WOVEN BONDS BREAK FROM THEIR FOLDS AND CLUTCHES. THIS WAS IN A THREE-ROOM FRAME HOUSE ON THIRD STREET, THE SECOND HOUSE EAST OF THE CHICAGO BURLINGTON AND QUINCY RAILROAD TRACKS IN GALESBURG, ILLINOIS, JANUARY 6, 1878.

Man

IT WAS A TREMENDOUS CHILDHOOD FOR SOMEONE WHO WENT ON TO TRY TO SPEAK ABOUT THE AMERICAN CONSCIOUSNESS. CERTAINLY, IN HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY "ALWAYS THE YOUNG STRANGERS," WE GET A WONDERFUL PORTRAIT OF GALESBURG AND OF GROWING UP THE HARD WAY. WELL, ONE THING A MAN THINKS OF FIRST OF ALL IS HORSES -- HORSES, EVERYWHERE HORSES.

Narrator

IN A TOWN FOUNDED BY ABOLITIONISTS AND TEAMING WITH IMMIGRANTS LIKE HIS SWEDISH PARENTS STRUGGLING THEIR WAY TO MAKE IT IN AMERICA, CARL SANDBURG HAD TAKEN TO CALLING HIMSELF CHARLES TO BE MORE AMERICAN. HE WAS A KEEN OBSERVER OF THE KALEIDOSCOPE OF PEOPLE AND IDEAS THAT SURROUNDED HIM AS HE WORKED AN ASTOUNDING NUMBER OF JOBS TO HELP THE FAMILY.

Metz

HE HIMSELF WORKED EVERY IMAGINABLE JOB, FROM DELIVERING NEWSPAPERS TO MILK TO CUTTING ICE TO SHINING SHOES IN A BARBERSHOP.

Niven

IT CONVINCED HIM EARLY ON THAT HE WANTED TO DO SOMETHING BESIDES MENIAL LABOR. HE KNEW HE WAS NOT GONNA BE HAPPY WORKING ON THE RAILROAD SIX DAYS A WEEK FOR 35 YEARS, AS HIS FATHER, AUGUST SANDBURG, HAD DONE.

Sandburg

MY FATHER WAS A BLACK SWEDE, HIS HAIR STRAIGHT AND BLACK, HIS EYES BLACK WITH A HINT OF BROWN, EYES RATHER DEEP SET IN THE BONE AND THE SKIN CRINKLED WITH HIS SMILE OR LAUGH. HE WAS AT THE CB&Q BLACKSMITH SHOP RATED AS A HELPER THE YEAR-ROUND. HE DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO WRITE HIS NAME. HE KNEW HOW TO READ...

HE WAS KIND OF SORT OF SUPERIOR TO BOOKS. HE WOULD PASS ME BY WHEN I HAD MY HEAD IN A BOOK ON SOME COLD WINTER NIGHT AND SAY, "CHARLIE, WHAT GOOD IS IT TO READ THAT BOOK?" REGULARLY, HE OR THE MOTHER WOULD READ ALOUD TO EACH OTHER AND THE CHILDREN AT NIGHT FROM THE SWEDISH BIBLE. I WOULD GUESS THERE WERE 200 OR 300 WORDS I LEARNED IN SWEDISH BEFORE I LEARNED THEM IN ENGLISH.

Niven

I OFTEN THINK ABOUT THE INTERPLAY OF LANGUAGE, OF THE FACT THAT SWEDISH WAS THE LANGUAGE HE HEARD AT HOME, AND HE LEARNED, OF COURSE, HAD TO LEARN HIS ENGLISH IN SCHOOL. AND I THINK THERE'S SOMETHING VERY RICH IN HIS USE OF LANGUAGE THAT PROBABLY IS INFORMED BY THE MERGER OF THOSE TWO LANGUAGES. IN A SENSE, HE HAD TWO NATIVE LANGUAGES.

Narrator

SANDBURG DROPPED OUT OF SCHOOL IN THE NINTH GRADE. ONE OF HIS JOBS WAS WORKING AT THE GALESBURG THEATRE WHERE HE'D STAND IN THE WINGS WHILE TRAVELING ORATORS, POLITICAL SPEAKERS, AND PERFORMERS TOOK THE STAGE.

Metz

THIS MIXTURE WAS JUST INCREDIBLE, AND YOU CAN SEE EVERY ONE OF THESE ELEMENTS SHOWING UP IN HIS LATER LIFE. SINCE THEN, THERE HAVE BEEN THOUSANDS OF HOMES IN AMERICA WHERE THEY LOOK AT A NEWBORN BABY AND YOU CAN HEAR THEM LAUGHING AND SAYING, "NOW WHEN HE GROWS UP, "MAYBE HE'LL BE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. WHO KNOWS? YOU CAN NEVER TELL." THIS IS AMERICA, AND IN AMERICA, MANY A POOR BOY GOES UP AND UP AND NOBODY CAN TELL HOW FAR UP ANY BOY WILL GO.

TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS

Narrator

SANDBURG'S LIFETIME OF WANDERING BEGAN WHEN, AT AGE 19, HE HEADED WEST AS A HOBO. HE RODE THE RAILS, GATHERING IMAGES, STORIES, AND SONGS THAT BECAME WOVEN INTO THE FABRIC OF VIRTUALLY ALL HIS WRITING TO COME.

Man

I WAS BORN ON THE PRAIRIE AND THE MILK OF ITS WHEAT, THE RED OF ITS CLOVER, THE EYES OF ITS WOMEN GAVE ME A SONG AND A SLOGAN TO SING. HERE IS WHERE THE WATER WENT DOWN, HERE THE ICEBERGS SLID THE GRAVEL, AND THE BLACK LOAM CAME. HERE BETWEEN THE SHEDS OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS AND THE APPALACHIANS, HERE WHERE NOW A MORNING STAR FIXES A FIRE SIGN ABOVE THE TIMBER CLAIMS AND THE COW PASTURES, ABOVE THE CORN BELT, AND THE CATTLE RANCHES. HERE THE GRAY GEESE GO 500 MILES WITH A WIND UNDER THEIR WINGS, HONKING A CRY FOR A NEW HOME.

WELL, THE FACT THAT HE WROTE ABOUT THE PRAIRIE IS VERY IMPORTANT TO THOSE OF US WHO LIVE OUT HERE. YOU KNOW, WE DON'T HAVE A LOT OF WRITERS WRITING ABOUT THIS LANDSCAPE. IT'S A SPARSE PLACE.

Woman

THE IMAGES THAT HE USES OF THE LANDSCAPE ARE SO VIVID, HE'S ABLE TO CAPTURE THE COLORS OF THE PRAIRIE, THE FEEL OF THE WIND ACROSS THE PRAIRIE, AND EVEN IN DESCRIPTIONS OF FLOWERS AND GRASSES, THERE'S A SENSE OF EVEN SMELL. SO A WHOLE PERCEPTION, YOU KNOW, A SENSORY PERCEPTION, IS REVEALED IN THOSE CORNHUSKER POEMS.

Niven

HE CALLED HIMSELF, LATER IN HIS LIFE, "THE ETERNAL HOBO," AND THAT WANDERING, THAT WANDERLUST WHICH, I THINK, IS A TYPICAL THING FOR SO MANY EXUBERANT, CREATIVE, BRIGHT, CURIOUS YOUNG PEOPLE, REALLY TOOK HOLD OF SANDBURG AT AN EARLY TIME.

Narrator

FOR THE DECADE THAT FOLLOWED, SANDBURG STRUGGLED TO UNDERSTAND WHO HE WAS, WHAT HE COULD BECOME. IN 1898, HE SERVED IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR AND THEN ATTENDED COLLEGE FOR THREE YEARS. BUT HE THREW HIMSELF DEEPER INTO A PRACTICE OF SELF-EDUCATION, READING, AND STUDY THAT HAD BEGUN YEARS BEFORE.

Niven

HE READ HIS SISTER'S HIGH SCHOOL BOOKS. HE TAUGHT HIMSELF POETRY. HE HAD TO CREATE HIS OWN FORMS, AND HE DID THAT ALL OF HIS LIFE.

Narrator

HE DISCOVERED WRITERS AND THINKERS THAT FUELED HIS EDUCATION -- WALT WHITMAN, JOHN RUSKIN, ELBERT HUBBARD, WILLIAM MORRIS. HE BEGAN TO THINK ABOUT BROAD IDEAS -- DEMOCRACY, INDUSTRY, SOCIALISM. HE TOOK TO THE STAGE IN A COLLEGE ORATORY COMPETITION WITH A SPEECH HE'D WRITTEN HIMSELF. THE ARTIST, THE SEER, AND THE PROPHET JOHN RUSKIN.

WINNING THE FIRST-PLACE PRIZE. SECOND PLACE WENT TO HIS BEST FRIEND, FREDERICK DICKENSON. TOGETHER, THE DRAW OF THE OPEN ROAD AND A CHANCE TO MAKE A BUCK LED THE TWO TO LEAVE GALESBURG, SELLING STEREOPTIC VIEWERS AND SLIDES DOOR TO DOOR AS THEY WANDERED THE COUNTRY. I'VE BEEN WANDERING EARLY AND LATE NEW YORK CITY TO THE GOLDEN GATE AN' IT LOOKS LIKE I'M NEVER GONNA CEASE MY WANDERING...

NOW FOLKS ARE SAYING THIS IS... AS A SALESMAN, SANDBURG ENJOYED THE PERFORMANCE AT EVERY DOORSTEP AS THEY CANVASSED THE SMALL TOWNS OF AMERICA. SOON SANDBURG TOOK TO THE ROAD ALONE, DISTANCING HIMSELF FROM GALESBURG AND HIS FAMILY. HE DESCRIBED THESE DAYS AS "ZIGZAGGING TOWARDS THE IDEAL"...

HE CALLED HIMSELF "A HUSTLER," SELLING VIEWS, POEMS, AND SPEECHES TO MAKE A LIVING. HE SAID, "THERE ARE 10 MEN IN ME, AND I DON'T KNOW OR UNDERSTAND A ONE OF THEM." BUT, SLOWLY, HE WAS FINDING HIS AUTHENTIC VOICE.

Woman

IT WAS VERY IMPORTANT TO MY FATHER THAT HE HAD AN AUDIENCE, AND I THINK IT WENT WAY BACK TO THOSE EARLY DAYS WHEN HE WOULD -- IT WAS VERY FUNNY, WHEN HE DID HIS FIRST TALKS, HE WOULD WRITE THE OWN PRESS RELEASE. "SANDBURG WAS MAGNIFICENT LAST NIGHT WHEN HE SPOKE OF WHITMAN." AND THEN HE WOULD SEND THIS PRESS RELEASE TO HIS FRIEND, AND HE WOULD SAY, "I WROTE IT."

Narrator

SANDBURG'S LECTURES WERE BEGINNING TO DRAW THE KIND OF AUDIENCE HE WOULD APPRECIATE ALL HIS LIFE -- IMMIGRANTS, WORKERS, AND THE FOLKS LEFT OUT OF THE SUCCESS OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. HIS GROWING INDOCTRINATION INTO THE IDEALS OF SOCIALISM WAS BOLSTERED BY THE HARSH REALITY HE WITNESSED IN BOTH IN THE FIELDS AND FACTORIES OF THE MIDWEST.

Metz

THE SOCIALIST PARTY WAS EMERGING AT THAT TIME AS THE PARTY OF SOCIAL JUSTICE IN FAVOR OF A FAIR SHAKE TO WORKING PEOPLE. THIS IS A TIME WHERE INDUSTRY -- NOT UNLIKE OUR OWN TIME -- WAS LIVING VIRTUALLY WITHOUT REGULATION, SO IT WAS AN UNBRIDLED CAPITALISM. SANDBURG REALLY WANTED TO BE OUT AMONGST THE PEOPLE OF THE NATION AND FORMING HIS POEMS OUT OF THAT RAW MATERIAL.

Man

"MILL DOORS." YOU NEVER COME BACK. I SAY GOOD-BYE WHEN I SEE YOU GOING IN THE DOORS, THE HOPELESS OPEN DOORS THAT CALL AND WAIT AND TAKE YOU THEN FOR -- HOW MANY CENTS A DAY? HOW MANY CENTS FOR THE SLEEPY EYES AND FINGERS? I SAY GOOD-BYE BECAUSE I KNOW THEY TAP YOUR WRISTS, IN THE DARK, IN THE SILENCE, DAY BY DAY, AND ALL THE BLOOD OF YOU DROP BY DROP, AND YOU ARE OLD BEFORE YOU ARE YOUNG.

YOU NEVER COME BACK.

Narrator

SANDBURG'S EMERGENCE AS A WRITER AND SPEAKER ADDRESSING SOCIAL ISSUES OF THE DAY LED HIM TO A JOB WORKING AS AN ORGANIZER FOR THE SOCIAL-DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF WISCONSIN. HE DESCRIBED HIS JOB AS ONE WHO "STIRRETH UP THE PEOPLE," SPEAKING AND SIGNING UP MEMBERS.

Crile

WELL, THE REASON THAT MY FATHER WAS THE POET OF THE PEOPLE GOES WAY BACK TO THE BEGINNING, WHERE HE WAS DOING THE ORGANIZING OF THE LABORERS. HE SPOKE FOR THE POOR, HE SPOKE FOR THESE PEOPLE THAT WEREN'T RECOGNIZED. HE BEGAN TO THINK OF THE POET IN THE TRADITION OF THE OLD TROUBADOURS. I MEAN, HE WAS SORT OF A TROUBADOUR HIMSELF, A POET AS A PUBLIC FIGURE WHO COMMUNICATED IDEAS AND KNOWLEDGE THROUGH HIS VOICE AND THROUGH HIS IMAGES.

Man

"MASSES." AMONG THE MOUNTAINS I WANDERED AND SAW BLUE HAZE AND RED CRAG AND WAS AMAZED; ON THE BEACH WHERE THE LONG PUSH UNDER THE ENDLESS TIDE, MANEUVERS, I STOOD SILENT; UNDER THE STARS ON THE PRAIRIE WATCHING THE DIPPER SLANT OVER THE HORIZON'S GRASS, I WAS FULL OF THOUGHTS. GREAT MEN, PAGEANTS OF WAR AND LABOR, SOLDIERS AND WORKERS, MOTHERS LIFTING THEIR CHILDREN -- THESE ALL I TOUCHED AND FELT THE SOLEMN THRILL OF THEM. AND THEN ONE DAY, I GOT A TRUE LOOK AT THE POOR, MILLIONS OF THE POOR, PATIENT AND TOILING; MORE PATIENT THAN CRAGS, TIDES, AND STARS; INNUMERABLE, PATIENT AS THE DARKNESS OF NIGHT -- AND ALL BROKEN, HUMBLE RUINS OF NATIONS.

Narrator

AS SANDBURG'S POETIC IMAGES BEGAN TAKE CLARITY AND HIS SPOKEN WORDS BEGAN TO MOVE PEOPLE TO ACTION, PERSONALLY, HE WAS LOST AND LONELY. HE FELT HIS SEARCH FOR A COMPANION WAS CRITICAL TO REALIZING HIS POTENTIAL. "IF ONLY I COULD MEET THE IDEAL WOMAN "I BELIEVE I COULD PULL MYSELF TOGETHER AND SET THE WORLD BY THE EARS." YOU HAD THIS TALL, HANDSOME, RUGGED, SLIGHTLY DISHEVELED, 30-YEAR-OLD SOCIALIST ORGANIZER IN WISCONSIN, LEAN BECAUSE THERE WAS HARDLY EVER ENOUGH TO EAT, AND HE WAS ALWAYS TOO BUSY. HE'S IN SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY HEADQUARTERS ONE DAY, AND HE MEETS THIS BEAUTIFUL, BLUE-EYED, DAZZLING, YOUNG WOMAN, 25-YEAR-OLD SCHOOLTEACHER WHO'S JUST DONE SOME TRANSLATIONS FOR A SOCIALIST PERIODICAL.

AND HE IS ENCHANTED WITH HER, AND SHE JUST TRULY DOESN'T GIVE HIM THE TIME OF DAY. HE INVITES HER OUT TO DINNER, BUT SHE DECLINES. BUT THEY DO EXCHANGE ADDRESSES, AND THEY BEGIN CORRESPONDING. AND THEY VERY QUICKLY, VERY QUICKLY -- WITHIN ABOUT TWO MONTHS' TIME -- FALL IN LOVE THROUGH THESE LETTERS.

Sandburg

LOVE, OH, LOVE OH, CARELESS LOVE LOVE, OH, LOVE...

Niven

AND IN THOSE LETTERS, THEY DESCRIBE THE VISION OF THE LIVES THAT THEY WANT TO LEAD, AND THEY DESCRIBE THE WORK THAT THEY'RE DOING. IT'S TRULY A WONDERFUL LOVE STORY.

Crile

WHEN MY MOTHER FIRST MET MY FATHER, SHE WAS IMPRESSED WITH THE FACT THAT HE WAS WORKING FOR THE LABORING MAN, AND HE WAS GOING OUT ON THE CIRCUIT AND PICKING UP THE UNION THINGS AND EVERYTHING. THAT IMPRESSED HER -- THAT HE WAS A GREAT ORGANIZER. AND THEN WHEN THEY MET, AND HE BEGAN SENDING HER NOT ONLY HIS PAMPHLETS ON THIS SUBJECT, BUT ALSO HIS POEMS, SHE GOT VERY EXCITED. I KNEW, OF COURSE, THAT HE WAS A REAL POET BECAUSE HE HAD SENT ME SOME OF HIS POEMS, AND THEY WERE VERY BEAUTIFUL.

AND I WAS... VERY MUCH MOVED BY THEM. AND SHE SAID, "NOT ONLY AN ORGANIZER, "BUT A PEOPLE'S POET, AND YOU WILL BE THE PEOPLE'S POET." SHE HAD FAITH IN HIM ALL OF HIS LIFE. AND HER FAITH NEVER WAVERED.

Niven

THIS MAN WHO WAS THEN CALLING HIMSELF CHARLES SANDBURG, BECAUSE THAT SOUNDED MORE AMERICAN TO HIM. AND SHE URGED HIM TO RECLAIM HIS NAME AND TO PROUDLY BE CARL SANDBURG, AND THEN TO BECOME CARL SANDBURG. MY MOTHER AND FATHER HAD A PERFECT LIFE. THEY WERE SO LUCKY TO HAVE EACH OTHER.

Sandburg

I FOUND OUT LONG AGO, I FOUND OUT BEFORE THE CEREMONY, BEFORE WE GOT TIED UP, THAT SHE HAS A MIND, THAT IN CERTAIN AREAS, JUST RUNS RINGS AROUND ME. SHE WAS PHI BETA KAPPA AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, CLASS OF 400 OR MORE, AND I'M PHI BETA KAPPA, BUT THAT WAS AT HARVARD FOR READING A POEM. WE LIVED REALLY, MAINLY, ON DRIED... DRIED APPLES -- COOKED UP, YOU SEE, MADE PRETTY GOOD APPLESAUCE OUT OF DRIED APPLES.

LAUGHS

Sandburg

AND SEE, WHAT WAS THE OTHER THING WE HAD... OH, AND THEN OATMEAL WAS ANOTHER OF THE BIG THINGS WE HAD, AND WE REALLY HAD A WAY OF LIVING SOMEHOW WITH VERY LITTLE EXPENDITURE.

Niven

YEAH, IT WAS AN EXTRAORDINARY MEETING OF TWO REMARKABLE PEOPLE -- A MAN WHO WAS ABOUT TO GIVE UP ON SOME OF HIS DREAMS, HIS DREAMS OF BEING A POET, FOR EXAMPLE, AND A YOUNG WOMAN WHO SAW VERY QUICKLY THE POSSIBILITY. OH, NEWSPAPERMEN MEET SUCH INTERESTING PEOPLE THEY KNOW THE LOWDOWN NOW IT CAN BE TOLD THAT I'LL TELL YOU QUITE RELIABLY OFF THE RECORD ABOUT SOME CHARMING PEOPLE I HAVE KNOWN FOR I MEET POLITICIANS AND GRAFTERS BY THE SCORE KILLERS PLAIN AND FANCY IT'S REALLY QUITE A BORE OH, NEWSPAPERMEN MEET SUCH INTERESTING PEOPLE THEY WALLOW IN CORRUPTION, CRIME, AND GORE DING-A-LING-A-LING CITY DESK OH, THE PRESS, OH, THE PRESS WE WERE MARRIED ABOUT SIX MONTHS AFTER THAT. HE WAS A NEWSPAPERMAN, AND THAT WAS A NATURAL WAY FOR A MAN WHO WANTED TO WRITE, I MEAN A PRACTICAL WAY TO GET INTO IT. AND HE'D WRITE WHATEVER POEMS HE WANTED TO WRITE ON THE SIDE, AND WE'D ALL ADMIRE THEM, BUT THE MATTER OF SELLING THEM WAS A DIFFERENT MATTER.

Narrator

WITH THEIR MARRIAGE IN 1908, SANDBURG AND LILIAN, WHO HE CALLED PAULA, FORMED THE PARTNERSHIP HE DESIRED. IN MILWAUKEE, AS SANDBURG WORKED AS JOURNALIST, A WRITER, AND SPEAKER, HE BECAME THE VOICE OF THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT, EVENTUALLY BECOMING THE SECRETARY FOR THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC MAYOR. BUT CITY SOCIALISM WAS NOT BROAD ENOUGH FOR SANDBURG. HE WAS A DELEGATE TO THE NATIONAL SOCIALIST PARTY CONVENTION, CAMPAIGNING FOR THE PARTY'S PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE -- EUGENE DEBS -- FUELING SANDBURG'S ASPIRATIONS THAT HIS ROLE IN SOCIALISM WAS ON THE NATIONAL STAGE.

HIS AMBITION LED HIM TO CHICAGO IN 1912 WITH PAULA AND THEIR NEWBORN DAUGHTER MARGARET. HE TOOK TO THE BUSTLING CITY WITH OPTIMISM, BUT THE FOLLOWING YEARS WOULD BECOME THE MOST CHALLENGING OF HIS LIFE. HE WAS MAKING A BUCK WHEREVER HE COULD, WRITING FOR NEWSPAPERS, SOCIALIST MAGAZINES, NEWSLETTERS, AND BUSINESS TRADE JOURNALS. BUT IT WAS IN HIS POETRY, USUALLY WRITTEN LATE AT NIGHT, THAT HE WOULD TRY TO RECONCILE HIS EXPERIENCES IN THE CITY WITH HIS POLITICAL PASSIONS.

IT WAS HIS JOURNALISM WHICH GAVE HIM A PRACTICAL VENUE SO THAT HE COULD LIVE IN THIS CITY AND WALK THESE STREETS AND COVER THESE PEOPLE AND SEE FIRSTHAND CLOSE UP. "MUCKERS." "20 MEN STAND WATCHING THE MUCKERS. "STABBING THE SIDES OF THE DITCH WHERE CLAY GLEAMS YELLOW, "DRIVING THE BLADES OF THEIR SHOVELS "DEEPER AND DEEPER FOR THE NEW GAS MAINS "WIPING SWEAT OFF THEIR FACES WITH RED BANDANAS." TO ME, WHAT MAKES THE POETRY OF PERMANENT INTEREST IS PRECISELY THAT THAT WORLD THAT HE LIVED IN AND MOVED AROUND IN CAN BE FOUND IN THESE POEMS. "OF THE 20 LOOKING ON, "10 MURMUR, 'OH, IT'S A HELL OF A JOB,' "10 OTHERS, 'JESUS, I WISH I HAD THAT JOB.'" APPROPRIATING CHUNKS OF REALITY, WHICH CAN BE TRANSCRIPTIONS OF THINGS THAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING TO HIM ON THE STREET.

HE GIVES CHICAGO ITS VOICE, IN SO MANY WAYS, AND CHICAGO GIVES HIM HIS VOICE. IT'S A MUTUAL EXCHANGE. BUT TIME AND TIME AGAIN, HIS BOLD AND RUGGED FREE VERSE POEMS WERE BEING REJECTED AND RETURNED. THEN, THEIR SECOND CHILD DIED AT BIRTH, SHATTERING THE HEARTS OF PAULA AND CARL.

Man

"LOSSES." I HAVE LOVE AND A CHILD, A BANJO AND SHADOWS. LOSSES OF GOD, ALL WILL GO AND ONE DAY WE WILL HOLD ONLY THE SHADOWS.

Narrator

PAULA CONTINUED TO TYPE AND MAIL POEMS OUT TO PUBLICATIONS. ONE OF THEM WAS A SMALL MAGAZINE SIMPLY CALLED "POETRY: A MAGAZINE OF VERSE."

Niven

THE TURNING POINT FOR SANDBURG IN CHICAGO WAS THAT PUBLICATION IN "POETRY MAGAZINE" IN 1914 OF "CHICAGO POEMS" AND SOME OTHERS. THAT WAS THE TURNING POINT BECAUSE PICTURE HIM BEFORE THEN, HE AND PAULA HAVE COME INTO CHICAGO FROM MILWAUKEE. HE'S TAKEN A PARTICULAR JOB ON A SOCIALIST NEWSPAPER. HE'S LOST THE JOB.

HE HAS BEEN WRITING FOR A HARDWARE JOURNAL. HE IS SO ADRIFT. HE'S DESPERATE TO FIND WORK, THE BREAD AND BUTTER WORK, AS HE ALWAYS CALLED IT, TO SUPPORT HIS FAMILY. HE'S PRACTICALLY GIVEN UP THE IDEA OF THE POETRY.

HIS WIFE SAYS YOU CAN'T GIVE IT UP, AND SHE'S TYPING THOSE POEMS AT NIGHT AND DURING THE DAY ON A TYPEWRITER THAT DOESN'T EVEN HAVE ALL OF ITS KEYS, AND SHE GIVES HIM THE FAITH TO GO ON. AND HE, AT THIS WONDERFUL MOMENT OF CONVERGENCE, GETS THE ACCEPTANCE IN "POETRY MAGAZINE," AND HE FINDS A JOB. SO THIS IS THE TURNING POINT FOR HIM. AND AMONG THOSE POEMS WAS THE "CHICAGO" POEM, WHICH AROUSED QUITE A LITTLE CONTROVERSY.

AND I THINK THAT THE VERY FACT THAT IT AROUSED CONTROVERSY REALLY HELPED WIN THE PRIZE, THE PRIZE FOR IT BECAUSE THERE WAS MORE INTEREST IN IT.

Man

"CHICAGO." 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.

Kooser

AND DON'T YOU SUPPOSE, EVEN IN TODAY'S DAY AND AGE THAT PEOPLE STILL THINK ABOUT CHICAGO IN THE WAY THAT SANDBURG SORT OF PORTRAYED IT FOR PEOPLE? BUT IT WAS "HOG BUTCHER OF THE WORLD." THERE WERE THE STOCKYARDS. IT WAS "STACKER OF WHEAT," THE GRANARIES... "PLAYER WITH RAILROADS, NATION'S FREIGHT HANDLER," ONE THOUSAND PASSENGER TRAINS STOPPED OFF IN CHICAGO EVERY DAY.

CHICAGO CAPTURED HIS IMAGINATION WHEN HE WAS A YOUNG IMMIGRANT BOY BACK IN GALESBURG. IT HELD HIS IMAGINATION FROM THE MOMENT HE FIRST SAW IT. IT PERMEATED HIS WORK FOR YEARS AND YEARS AFTERWARD. BUT IT'S STILL THAT CITY, IT'S STILL THE ARCHETYPAL AMERICAN CITY THAT SANDBURG SANG ABOUT.

"COME AND SHOW ME ANOTHER CITY WITH LIFTED HEAD "SINGING SO PROUD TO BE ALIVE AND COARSE AND STRONG AND CUNNING." AND GUYS WOULD KID THAT, "SHOW ME ANOTHER CITY, SO CORRUPT"

LAUGHS

Kooser

BUT ALL OF THAT WAS PART OF THE ARCHETYPE OF THE CITY, AND THAT'S THE ONE THAT SANDBURG CELEBRATED. 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, LAUGHING AND BRAGGING THAT UNDER HIS WRIST IS THE PULSE, IN HIS RIB, 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.

CHEERING

Kooser

THERE'S SOMETHING IN SANDBURG THAT'S RAW, THAT'S VIOLENT, THAT'S COARSE, THAT'S UNEVEN, BUT WHICH IS DEEPLY DEMOCRATIC. SANDBURG, FROM THE MOMENT HE EMERGED INTO PUBLIC AWARENESS, WAS SEEN AS THE HARBINGER OF A NEW KIND OF POETRY. ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR POEMS OF THE TIME WAS JOYCE KILMER'S "I THINK THAT I SHALL NEVER SEE A POEM AS LOVELY AS A TREE." THIS WAS A... THIS WAS A POEM IN VOGUE AND THEN HERE COMES SANDBURG WITH "THE HOG BUTCHER TO THE WORLD," SOMETHING THAT'S SO UNORTHODOX IN ITS FORM, FIRST OF ALL, BUT ALSO IN ITS SUBJECT MATTER.

AND IT TRULY WAS A SHOCK.

Narrator

PUBLISHED IN 1915, CARL SANDBURG'S "CHICAGO POEMS" CHANGED BOTH HIS LIFE AND MODERN POETRY. SOME OF THE POEMS HAD BEEN WRITTEN YEARS BEFORE AND AFTER LONG STRUGGLE, BUT OTHER POEMS CAME AS SMOOTHLY AND AS GENTLY AS FOG, SCRATCHED DOWN ON A NOTE PAD HE KEPT IN HIS COAT POCKET ON A CHICAGO MORNING.

Sandburg

THE FOG COMES ON LITTLE CAT FEET. IT SITS LOOKING OVER CITY AND HARBOR ON SILENT HAUNCHES AND THEN MOVES ON.

Narrator

SANDBURG WAS SURROUNDED BY THE ENERGY OF THE CITY AND CAMARADERIE OF OTHER WRITERS AND POETS WHO OFTEN GATHERED AT THE "POETRY MAGAZINE" OFFICES UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF HARRIET MONROE. SHE WAS THE FOUNDER OF THIS MAGAZINE THAT HAD MADE CHICAGO THE CENTER OF AMERICAN POETRY. THE ENERGY THERE MUST HAVE JUST BEEN CATALYTIC. IT MUST HAVE BEEN BECAUSE WE HAD THE YOUNG ROBERT FROST AND THE YOUNG CARL SANDBURG AND THE YOUNG EZRA POUND, EVENTUALLY T.S.

ELIOT, INCREDIBLY STIMULATING FOR HIM. HE NEVER IMAGINED THIS KIND OF INTERACTION. IN ADDITION TO THE SHOCKING AND THE MODERNISTIC WAS THE ANARCHISTIC IN "CHICAGO POEMS."

Man

"I SAT WITH A DYNAMITER AT SUPPER "IN A GERMAN SALOON EATING STEAK AND ONIONS. "AND HE LAUGHED "AND TOLD STORIES OF HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN "AND THE CAUSE OF LABOR AND THE WORKING CLASS. "IT WAS THE LAUGHTER OF AN UNSHAKABLE MAN KNOWING LIFE TO BE A RICH AND RED-BLOODED THING."

Narrator

WHILE SANDBURG WAS EXPERIENCING HIS FIRST REAL SUCCESS IN POETRY, HIS POLITICS INTENSIFIED, WITH A GROWING ROLE IN THE I.W.W. -- THE INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD. THEY'RE A VERY ROMANTIC GROUP. THEY'RE TOUGH GUYS.

THEY'RE NOT GOING TO LISTEN TO THE NONSENSE OF WASHINGTON POLITICIANS. THEY'LL GO OUT ON THE STREETS. THEY'LL TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES. THEY HAVE SOME SUCCESSES.

THEY'RE VERY, VERY ATTRACTIVE. THEY TEND TO BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN SETTLE THINGS WITH YOUR FISTS, THAT ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS TO STAND UP TO THE BOSS AND DUMP HIM OFF YOUR BACK AND EVERYTHING'S GOING TO BE ALL RIGHT. AND THAT'S VERY ATTRACTIVE, VERY ROMANTIC, AND SANDBURG BECOMES ONE OF THE PRIMARY WRITERS IN "THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST REVIEW" FOR THOSE WOBBLY POSITIONS ABOUT VIOLENCE, ABOUT DIRECT ACTION, ABOUT THE USE OF SABOTAGE, ABOUT THE NEED TO CREATE A REVOLUTION -- NOT 10 YEARS FROM NOW, BUT RIGHT NOW.

Man

WHEN WORLD WAR I BROKE OUT, THERE'S A VERY INTERESTING MIX IN SANDBURG'S LIFE OF POLITICAL COMMITMENTS AND CAREER COMMITMENTS -- ALMOST A KIND OF CONTEST WITHIN HIS OWN WORKING LIFE AND HIS OWN SENSE OF MISSION OF WHAT HE WANTS TO DO WITH HIS LIFE, THAT PUTS IN PLAY POLITICS AND POETRY AND JOURNALISM IN WAYS THAT SOMETIMES ARE COMPLEMENTARY AND SOMETIMES ARE IN TENSION WITH EACH OTHER. AND THAT MAKES FOR A VERY VOLATILE AND INTERESTING MIX. THERE'S A LOT OF VIOLENCE IN THE COUNTRY, THERE'S A LOT OF REPRESSION IN THE COUNTRY, AND THERE ARE LOTS OF STRIKES IN THE COUNTRY.

Niven

THIS WAS A PROFOUNDLY... RESHAPING EVENT. SO FOR SANDBURG PERSONALLY, AS WELL AS FOR HIS FELLOW CITIZENS COLLECTIVELY, EVERYTHING CHANGED FOREVER -- FOREVER WITH THIS WAR.

Man

"KILLERS." I AM SINGING TO YOU SOFT AS A MAN WITH A DEAD CHILD SPEAKS; HARD AS A MAN IN HANDCUFFS,

HELD WHERE HE CANNOT MOVE

UNDER THE SUN ARE 16 MILLION MEN, CHOSEN FOR SHINING TEETH, SHARP EYES, HARD LEGS, AND A RUNNING OF YOUNG WARM BLOOD IN THEIR WRISTS. AND A RED JUICE RUNS ON THE GREEN GRASS; AND A RED JUICE SOAKS THE DARK SOIL. AND THE 16 MILLION ARE KILLING. AND KILLING AND KILLING.

IN THIS POEM, THERE IS A SENSE OF... THAT WAS VERY STRONG IN THE UNITED STATES, OF THE CATASTROPHIC DESTRUCTION OF THE PRESENT GREAT WAR AND OF THIS WAR AS HORRIBLY DESTRUCTIVE OF HUMAN LIFE IN WAYS THAT COULD NOT BE JUSTIFIED.

Yannella

AND WHEN I WAS READING THIS STUFF, I WAS SAYING, "WOW, THIS IS WILD! "THIS GUY IS WAY OUT THERE. "THIS GUY... IS AT THE EXTREME LEFT OF THE LEFT." HE HAD TO DEAL PERSONALLY WITH THE SHOCK OF THIS WAR AND THE DISILLUSIONMENT AND THE LOSS OF INNOCENCE, THE LOSS OF NATIONAL INNOCENCE AND TRUST AND SECURITY.

SANDBURG DID INDEED GET TO KNOW PEOPLE WHO ADVOCATED THE VIOLENT OVERTHROW OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

Narrator

"THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST REVIEW" WAS NOW BEING CLOSELY WATCHED BY THE UNITED STATES MILITARY INTELLIGENCE. SANDBURG'S ARTICLES, EDITORIALS, AND POEMS WERE NOW BEING PUBLISHED UNDER A VARIETY OF PSEUDONYMS INCLUDING JACK PHILIPS, MILITANT, AND LIVE WIRE. HE WAS USING POETRY AS, AGAIN, A POWERFUL WEAPON, IF YOU WILL, A CONFRONTATION. THIS WAS CONFRONTATIONAL POETRY.

IN THIS VOLATILE TIME, SANDBURG WROTE A POWERFUL STATEMENT ABOUT HIS BELIEFS, SAYING, "I AM A SOCIALIST. "I AM A WOBBLY. "I AM AN ANARCHIST. "I AM WITH ALL REBELS EVERYWHERE ALL THE TIME, AGAINST ALL PEOPLE WHO ARE SATISFIED." SET IN THE CHAOS OF BOTH HIS LIFE AND THE TIMES, THESE ALLEGIANCES WERE DANGEROUS.

IN THE MIDST OF THE WAR, SANDBURG JUMPED AT THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE AN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT FOR THE NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSOCIATION. HE TRAVELED TO SWEDEN, LAND OF HIS ANCESTORS, TO WRITE ABOUT THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION. SANDBURG'S BACKGROUND DID NOT GO UNNOTICED. THE U.S.

MILITARY INTELLIGENCE DIVISION, INVESTIGATING SUSPICIOUS INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS, SURVEILLED SANDBURG WHILE HE WAS IN SWEDEN. THERE, SANDBURG DEVELOPED A CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH A BOLSHEVIK -- MIKEL BORODIN, ONE OF VLADIMIR LENIN'S CHIEF AGENTS. WHEN BORODIN LEARNED SANDBURG WAS RETURNING TO THE STATES, HE ASKED HIM TO DELIVER $10,000 ALONG WITH BOLSHEVIK PAMPHLETS AND PROPAGANDA FILMS TO HIS COMRADES IN THE U.S.

Yannella

AT THE END OF THE WAR, HE COMES BACK TO THE UNITED STATES. HE COMES BACK WITH A LOT OF BOLSHEVIK PROPAGANDA IN HIS SUITCASES AND $10,000 TO HELP ALONG THE REVOLUTIONARY CAUSE IN THE UNITED STATES -- A CHECK FOR $10,000 THAT HE'S SUPPOSED TO TURN OVER TO ONE OF THE REPRESENTATIVES OF BOLSHEVISM IN THE U.S. WHEN HIS SHIP DOCKS, HE IS MET BY SEVERAL DIFFERENT AGENCIES OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT. THEY TAKE THE PROPAGANDA, THEY TAKE THE TWO SUITCASES, THEY TAKE THE $10,000.

THEY DO NOT GET INTO HIS COAT, AS HE LATER SAID IN THE 1950s, HE CONFESSED, HE FESSED UP. YOU KNOW, HE SAID THAT, "THEY DIDN'T GET "INTO THE LINING OF MY COAT "BECAUSE IN THE LINING OF MY COAT "WAS A LETTER FROM LENIN, "A LETTER TITLED, 'A LETTER TO AMERICAN WORKMEN,'" WHICH SAID, "WE HAVE CONDUCTED THE REVOLUTION. "YOU'RE NEXT. THIS IS WHAT YOU SHOULD DO." AND, OF COURSE, MY FATHER WAS VERY INDIGNANT ABOUT THIS, BUT HE WAS ADVISED TO LET IT GO BY HIS NEWSPAPER FRIENDS.

I THINK HE WAS REALLY LUCKY. LOTS OF PEOPLE WENT TO JAIL. LOTS OF PEOPLE GOT DEPORTED IN 1919 -- EVEN THOUGH THEY MAY HAVE BEEN BORN HERE, LOTS OF PEOPLE SUFFERED TERRIBLY. HE DID NOT.

HE WAS A REAL LUCKY GUY TO GET OFF SO EASY. HE GOES BACK TO THE MIDWEST AFTER HIS ORDEAL IN NEW YORK CITY WITH THE GOVERNMENT AGENTS AND HE TAKES UP HIS WRITING LIFE AGAIN. IT LEFT HIM BITTER AND DISILLUSIONED. SO HE WROTE A DIFFERENT KIND OF WAR POETRY.

HE WROTE "LIARS," WHICH IS A SCATHING POEM. "A LIAR GOES IN FINE CLOTHES. "A LIAR GOES IN RAGS. "A LIAR IS A LIAR, "CLOTHES OR NO CLOTHES.

"A LIAR IS A LIAR "AND LIVES ON THE LIES HE TELLS AND DIES IN A LIFE OF LIES." THEN HE BEGAN TO TRY TO TRANSFORM ALL OF THE PAIN OF THAT. AND HE'S BEGINNING NOW TO LEAVE THE ACTIVIST JOURNALISM BEHIND AND TO LEAVE THE RAW "CHICAGO POEM" PERIOD BEHIND. AND HE'S GONNA TO GIVE US EVERYTHING HE CAN GIVE US IN THE '20s TO HELP US HEAL AND TO HELP US TO COME TO SOME SENSE OF OUR NATIONAL IDENTITY.

Narrator

SANDBURG RETURNED TO THE CHICAGO DAILY NEWS TO REPORT ON LABOR AND INDUSTRY WHILE WRITING "SMOKE AND STEEL," HIS NEXT PUBLISHED BOOK OF POETRY. HE WON ACCLAIM FOR HIS ONGOING COVERAGE OF THE RIOTS THAT RAVAGED CHICAGO AFTER A BLACK TEENAGER WAS KILLED WHEN CAUGHT SWIMMING ON ONE OF LAKE MICHIGAN'S WHITE BEACHES.

Niven

SANDBURG IS THE MAN NOW WHO HAS BEEN A VOCAL ADVOCATE FOR THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN, A VOCAL ADVOCATE FOR THE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN, AND NOW A VOCAL ADVOCATE FOR THE RIGHTS OF PEOPLE OF COLOR.

Narrator

HIS WORK WAS EVENTUALLY PUBLISHED IN BOOK FORM, WHICH WOULD LATER SERVE AS A MODEL TO MANY WRITERS WHO DELVED INTO THE POWERFUL STORY OF AMERICA'S RACE RELATIONS IN THE 1950s AND '60s. BUT IN 1920, CARL SANDBURG WAS 42 YEARS OLD AND MORE THAN EVER BEFORE, HIS CONCERNS FOR PROVIDING FOR HIS FAMILY BECAME PARAMOUNT.

Niven

INWARDLY, PERSONALLY, HE FOCUSED MORE THAN EVER BEFORE ON HIS FAMILY. AND ONE REASON FOR THAT WAS THAT HIS ELDEST CHILD SUFFERED A SERIES OF SEIZURES AND ILLNESSES, WHICH WERE LATER DIAGNOSED AS EPILEPSY. AND ONE THING HE STARTED DOING IN THAT PERSONAL LIFE WAS TELLING STORIES TO HIS CHILDREN, PARTICULARLY WHEN HIS LITTLE DAUGHTER HAD TO BE IN THE HOSPITAL FOR LONG PERIODS OF TIME OR CONFINED AT HOME, MADE UP STORIES FOR HER.

Sandburg

AND AFTER A WHILE, THE TRAIN ZIGZAGGED ON INTO THE VILLAGE OF LIVER-AND-ONIONS, KNOWN AS THE BIGGEST CITY IN THE BIG, BIG ROOTABAGA COUNTRY.

Niven

FOR THESE THREE DAUGHTERS -- MARGARET, JANET, AND HELGA -- HE CREATED A WHOLE COUNTRY, ROOTABAGA COUNTRY. IT HAS ITS OWN GOVERNMENT. IT HAS ITS OWN RAILROAD. IT HAS ITS OWN WONDERFUL AND CRAZY TOPSY-TURVY SORT OF CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS.

Sandburg

AND NEXT THEY CAME TO THE COUNTRY OF THE BALLOON PICKERS. HANGING DOWN FROM THE SKY STRUNG ON STRINGS SO FINE THE EYE COULDN'T SEE THEM AT FIRST, WAS THE BALLOON CROP OF THAT SUMMER. THE SKY WAS THICK WITH BALLOONS. RED, BLUE, YELLOW BALLOONS, WHITE, PURPLE, AND ORANGE BALLOONS, PEACH, WATERMELON, AND POTATO BALLOONS, RYE LOAF AND WHEAT LOAF BALLOONS, LINK SAUSAGE AND PORK CHOP BALLOONS.

THEY FLOATED AND FILLED THE SKY.

Niven

SO THE WAR TURNED HIM INWARDLY AND OUTWARDLY IN THE DIRECTION OF FAIRYTALE AND MYTH BECAUSE IT WAS SUCH CONSOLATION FOR HIM IN THESE STORIES. HE SAID, "THEY WERE MY REFUGE FROM THE IMBECILITY OF A FRIGHTENED WORLD."

Sandburg

AND THE TRAIN WENT ZIGZAGGING ON AND ON RUNNING ON THE TRACKS AND THE RAILS AND THE SPIKES AND THE TIES, WHICH WERE ALL ZIGZAG LIKE THE LETTER "Z" AND THE LETTER "Z." TO GO TO ROOTABAGA COUNTRY, YOU GOTTA SELL EVERYTHING -- PIGS, PASTURES, PEPPER PICKERS, PITCHFORKS. WELL, IN MY LIFE, I GAVE UP A CAREER IN THE CONSTRUCTION FIELD. I WAS MAKING GOOD MONEY, AND I GAVE THAT UP TO DO WHAT I DO. I'LL NEVER REGRET IT.

I'LL NEVER REGRET GOING TO MY ROOTABAGA COUNTRY BECAUSE IT MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE TO ME. THEY OPENED UP A NEW DIMENSION OF AMERICAN LITERATURE FOR CHILDREN AND SURVIVE TO THIS DAY.

Narrator

THE ROOTABAGA STORIES SURPRISED SANDBURG WITH THEIR CRITICAL AND COMMERCIAL SUCCESS, LEADING HIM TO CONSIDER OTHER BOOKS FOR CHILDREN. AND IN 1922, SANDBURG BEGAN WRITING WHAT HE CALLED "A SHORT PROFILE" OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, INTENDED FOR CHILDREN. IT GREW INTO ONE OF THE LONGEST BIOGRAPHIES EVER WRITTEN IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. THE SIX VOLUMES SANDBURG WOULD WRITE ABOUT ABRAHAM LINCOLN WOULD OCCUPY MUCH OF THE NEXT 20 YEARS OF HIS LIFE, SYNTHESIZING HIS LOVE FOR HISTORY WITH HIS PROGRESSIVE VISION FOR AMERICA.

Lilian

CARL BECAME INTERESTED IN LINCOLN AS A BOY. HE SPOKE TO OLD SOLDIERS IN THE WAR, AND THEY TOLD HIM A GREAT DEAL ABOUT THE WAR AND ALSO ABOUT THEIR ADMIRATION, YOU KNOW, FOR LINCOLN AND ALL THAT. WELL, LIVING IN GALESBURG WHEN HE DID, HE WOULD HAVE SIMPLY BEEN UNABLE TO ESCAPE THE GHOST OF LINCOLN. THE CIVIL WAR WAS ONLY OVER 13 YEARS WHEN HE WAS BORN.

THERE WERE CIVIL WAR VETERANS EVERYWHERE IN TOWN. BUT THERE WAS SOMETHING ALSO IN SANDBURG'S UPBRINGING, I THINK, THAT MADE HIM FEEL A KINSHIP TO LINCOLN. BOTH OF THEM HAD WORKED HARD IN THEIR YOUTH AND FINALLY HAD BECOME PEOPLE OF THOUGHT INSTEAD OF PEOPLE OF MUSCLE, IF YOU WILL. HE LIKED TO WORK OUT IN THE OPEN, AN ORANGE CRATE, THE TYPEWRITER ON TOP, AND THERE HE WAS BACK IN THE OLD BARN HITTING AWAY AND GETTING THAT WONDERFUL BOOK GOING THERE.

WHEN HE FINISHED "THE PRAIRIE YEARS," WHICH WAS THE FIRST TWO VOLUMES, AND WHICH WERE VERY, OH, NATURAL AND EVOCATIVE AND EVERYTHING, THEN HE STARTED ON "THE WAR YEARS" BECAUSE HE COULDN'T STOP. AND HE WAS FASCINATED WITH THIS MAN.

Sandburg

THE NAME OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN HAS GONE AROUND THE WORLD. MORE BOOKS WRITTEN ABOUT HIM THAN ANY OTHER FIGURE IN HISTORY EXCEPT JESUS CHRIST. HIS REPEATED PUBLIC QUOTATION FROM THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IN 1776, "ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL," HAS GONE WORLDWIDE, AND HE IS KNOWN AND LOVED AS A WORLD SPOKESMAN FOR DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM. HIS LINCOLN BIOGRAPHY, IN MANY WAYS, WAS HIS BEST-KNOWN WORK, AND THE SIX VOLUMES WRITTEN OVER TWO DECADES OF TIME FOUND THEIR WAY INTO SO MANY AMERICAN HOUSEHOLDS.

THE FOLK STYLE OF RESEARCH, WHERE THE ANECDOTE AND THE MEMORY -- IT JUST FITS ENTIRELY WITH THE WAY IN WHICH HE WAS GATHERING MATERIALS FOR POEMS. HE WAS ASKED ONE TIME, AN OLD-TIMER FROM SANGAMON COUNTY, ILLINOIS, SAID, "WELL, MR. LINCOLN, JUST HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE PRESIDENT?" AND HE SAID, "WELL, I'M LIKE THE MAN THAT WAS RODE OUT OF TOWN ON A RAIL." HE SAID THAT IF IT WASN'T FOR THE HONOR OF IT, HE'D OF JUST AS SOON WALKED. IT WAS A METHOD THAT FELL INTO DISREPUTE UNTIL ONCE AGAIN, ALL OF A SUDDEN, WE'RE SAYING, "ORAL HISTORIES REALLY MATTER." WELL, SANDBURG'S LINCOLN WAS THE MAJOR STATEMENT ABOUT THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, NO QUESTION ABOUT IT.

THERE ARE OTHER BOOKS ABOUT THE CIVIL WAR. THERE WERE PLENTY OF OTHER BOOKS ABOUT LINCOLN. BUT IN THE POPULAR MIND, SANDBURG WAS IT.

Niven

HE MADE A DELIBERATE CHOICE TO MOVE FROM POETRY INTO BIOGRAPHY. I THINK HE TRANSFORMED MODERN BIOGRAPHY IN THE PROCESS OF DOING THAT. IN MANY WAYS, HE REMAINS A TREMENDOUS INFLUENCE OVER PEOPLE'S IMAGE OF LINCOLN. I MEAN, THE LINCOLN IMAGE IN THE AMERICAN MIND, AS A GREAT HISTORIAN ONCE PUT IT, IS ALWAYS CHANGING, IS ALWAYS THERE.

ALL BECAUSE HE IS A TITANIC CHARACTER WITH MYSTERY ATTACHING TO HIM, ALL THE MYSTERY THAT ATTACHES TO THE WORD "DEMOCRACY" AND THAT OTHER PHRASE "THE AMERICAN DREAM." IT'S THERE IN HIM MORE THAN IN ANY OTHER ONE MAN. I THINK THAT SANDBURG'S VISION OF LINCOLN IN THE PRAIRIE YEARS AND IN "THE WAR YEARS" HAD A PROFOUND EFFECT ON HOW WE VIEW LINCOLN, HOW WE CAME TO KNOW LINCOLN. IT WAS THE DRED SCOTT DECISION AND AS MUCH AS ANYTHING ELSE, IT HELPED MAKE THE CIVIL WAR INEVITABLE.

Davis

THERE'S WAS A TENDENCY TO TRY TO PUT THE CIVIL WAR BEHIND US, TO TRY TO STITCH THE SECTIONS TOGETHER, TO TRY TO BRING ABOUT A REMELDING OF NORTH AND SOUTH, AND... ONE VERY SUCCESSFUL WAY OF DOING THAT, ONE THAT'S CERTAINLY INDEFENSIBLE WAY OF DOING THAT, WAS TO PUT THE BLACK MAN IN SECOND PLACE OR IN LAST PLACE -- TO MAKE SECONDARY THE FACT THAT SLAVERY MIGHT HAVE BEEN AN IMPORTANT CAUSE OF THE CIVIL WAR. SANDBURG, IN THE LATTER SECTIONS OF "THE WAR YEARS," IDENTIFIED THE FUNDAMENTAL CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR AS BEING THE ATTEMPT TO PRESERVE THE UNION AGAINST SECESSION, WHICH WAS ANARCHY AND TREASON, AND A FIGHT OVER SLAVERY. IT WAS FOUGHT BECAUSE THERE WAS AN INSTITUTION.

IN THE SOUTH, THEY REFERRED TO IT AS "THE INSTITUTION" OR OUR "DOMESTIC INSTITUTION," MEANING SLAVERY. I THINK THAT THAT IS EXACTLY RIGHT. THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THE CIVIL WAR WAS ABOUT. THERE ARE TWO OR THREE PARAGRAPHS TOWARDS THE END OF THAT VOLUME, OF THE FINAL VOLUME OF "THE WAR YEARS" WHERE IT'S ALL THERE.

THAT SANDBURG'S VERY DIFFERENT LINCOLN IS THE ONE WE TAKE AS BEING SO FAMILIAR IS, IN FACT, A MARK OF SANDBURG'S ICONOCLASM, NOT HIS COMPLACENCY, NOT HIS SENTIMENTALITY -- AND OF HIS GREAT SUCCESS. WE MIGHT BE ASKING IN THE PRESENT HOUR, "WHAT IS THE GREATEST SINGLE RESULT "FROM OUR CIVIL WAR RELATED TO THE PRESENT HOUR OF FATE AND HISTORY?" I THINK WHAT SANDBURG DID WAS TO AMPLIFY AND GIVE MEANING TO MANY OF THE EXTERNAL THREATS THAT PEOPLE FELT THEY WERE FEELING.

Sandburg

PEOPLE CROWDED ON WHITE HOUSE LAWN.

Narrator

HE WAS THE FIRST PRIVATE CITIZEN TO ADDRESS A JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS ON THE ONE 150th ANNIVERSARY OF THE LINCOLN'S BIRTH. MEN AND WOMEN, THIS COUNTRY HAS ALWAYS HAD THEM IN CRISIS, MEN AND WOMEN, WHO UNDERSTAND THAT WHEREVER THERE IS FREEDOM, THERE HAS BEEN THOSE WHO FOUGHT, TOILED, AND SACRIFICED FOR IT. I THANK YOU.

APPLAUSE

Niven

I THINK FOR HIS FELLOW CITIZENS WHO READ THAT BIOGRAPHY, THAT THERE WAS... A GREAT DEAL OF HISTORY, A GREAT DEAL OF WISDOM, A GREAT DEAL OF POSSIBILITY FOR SOME SORT OF COMPASS THROUGH THE DIFFICULT TIMES IN WHICH THEY WERE LIVING.

Narrator

THE SHADOW OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN WOULD FOLLOW CARL SANDBURG FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE, AS WELL AS ANOTHER SHADOW FROM THIS YOUTH -- AND THAT WAS OF A SIX-STRINGED GUITAR. SANDBURG'S CREATIVE OUTPUT IN THE 1920s WAS PHENOMENALLY DIVERSE. BUT IN THE MIDST OF ALL HIS PROJECTS, IN 1927, HE ALSO FOUND TIME TO PUBLISH WHAT HAS BECOME A MAJOR CONTRIBUTION TO AMERICAN MUSIC, "THE AMERICAN SONGBAG." THESE ARE... NOT THE FANCY HYMNS SUNG IN THE RICH FOLK'S CHURCHES, BUT MOSTLY...

THE SONGS MADE UP BY RELATIVELY ILLITERATE PEOPLE.

Sandburg

ON A MONDAY MORNIN' IT BEGAN TO RAIN AROUND THE BEND COME A PASSENGER TRAIN ON THE BUMPERS WAS A HOBO JOHN HE'S A GOOD OLD HOBO BUT HE'S DEAD AND GONE DEAD AND GONE

Niven

HE FOUND SONGS. HE HAD WHAT HE CALLED A KIT BAG IN WHICH HE LOVED TO COLLECT THE EVIDENCE OF THESE SONGS. AND HE STARTED FINDING THEM WHEN HE WAS A TEENAGER. BY THE TIME HE BEGAN TO THINK ABOUT "THE SONGBAG," HE WAS A VERY FINE MUSICOLOGIST, AND HE WAS DOING WORK WITH ALAN AND JOHN LOMAX, FOR EXAMPLE, WITH PETE SEEGER'S STEP-MOTHER RUTH CRAWFORD, WHO WAS A VERY FINE MUSICIAN AND MUSICOLOGIST.

YOU MIGHT SAY, IT WAS A PEOPLE'S EDUCATION ABOUT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. WHAT THEY TEACH, OR WHAT THEY TAUGHT IN SCHOOL MOSTLY WAS RATHER FORMAL. IT WAS WHERE SUCH-AND-SUCH BATTLE WAS FOUGHT AND WHEN SO-AND-SO WAS ELECTED. AND YOU DIDN'T GET THE STORIES BEHIND ALL THIS.

AND THESE SONGS GAVE YOU THE STORIES. PAULA, HIS WIFE, WAS INSTRUMENTALLY INVOLVED IN THAT PROJECT. AND, IN FACT, SANDBURG ACTUALLY HAD A BREAKDOWN BEFORE HE FINISHED IT FROM EXHAUSTION, AND SHE GOT THE BOOK TO ALFRED HARCOURT, GOT IT TO PRESS, AND DID A LOT OF READING OF PROOFS, AND THAT SORT OF THING. SPRINGTIME HAS COME JUST OUT OF JAIL WITHOUT ANY MONEY WITHOUT ANY BAIL HALLELUJAH, I'M A BUM HALLELUJAH, BUM AGAIN HALLELUJAH, GIVE US A HANDOUT TO REVIVE US AGAIN THE THING THAT REALLY GOT ME ABOUT IT WAS THE WAY HE WROTE ABOUT THE SONGS, AND THAT REALLY SPOKE TO ME.

"THIS IS CLEARLY SOMEBODY THAT WAS IN TUNE "WITH THE MATERIAL AND HAD A DEEP, DEEP CONNECTION TO IT." HIS INTRODUCTION TO A SONG CALLED "THE DRUNKARD'S DOOM." "WHISKEY! WHISKEY! "CRIED THE LAND RENT AGITATOR "IN A FAMINE YEAR IN IRELAND. "WHISKEY IT IS THAT MAKES YOU SHOOT AT THE LANDLORDS AND MISS 'EM."

LAUGHS

Narrator

THE BOOK WOULD SOLIDIFY THE SONGS IN THE AMERICAN MUSICAL LEXICON, PRESERVING THE LEGENDS, LYRICS, TALL TALES, AND HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES INCLUDED IN THE SONGS -- MANY OF WHICH MIGHT HAVE BEEN LOST IF IT HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR HIS EFFORTS.

Sandburg

I RIDE AN OLD PAINT I LEAD AN OLD DAN I'M GOIN' TO MONTANA FOR TO THROW THE HOULIHAN THEY FEED IN THE COULEES THEY WATER IN THE DRAW THEIR TAILS ARE ALL MATTED THEIR BACKS ARE ALL RAW HOBO SONGS, THEN A WHOLE SECTION OF A DOZEN SONGS FROM THE BIG BRUTAL CITY, PRISON AND JAIL SONGS, BLUES... THE THING THAT I GOT A SENSE OF RIGHT AWAY WAS THAT IN THOSE 24 CHAPTERS, HE WAS REALLY TRYING TO CAST A WIDE NET. AND I'M SOMEWHAT FAMILIAR WITH A LOT OF THE BOOKS THAT HAD COME OUT PRIOR TO "THE AMERICAN SONGBAG," AND I'VE REALLY NEVER SEEN ANYTHING THAT'S TRIED TO BE AS INCLUSIVE AS "THE SONGBAG" WAS IN 1927. THEN RAILROAD AND WORK SONGS, WORK GANGS.

HERE'S WHERE HE LEARNED FROM THE LOMAXES BECAUSE THEY TOOK EARLY RECORDING MACHINES AROUND TO SOUTHERN PRISON FARMS WHERE MEN -- AFRICAN-AMERICANS WERE PUTTING ENGLISH WORDS TO OLD AFRICAN MELODIES WHICH HAD BEEN PRESERVED SINCE SLAVERY DAYS. HE'S LONG JOHN HE'S LONG JOHN HE'S LONG GONE, LONG GONE

Narrator

FROM THE 1920s ON, SANDBURG'S POETRY READINGS, LINCOLN LECTURES, TELEVISION PERFORMANCES, AND INFORMAL GATHERINGS ALMOST ALWAYS INCLUDED HIS PERFORMANCE OF SONGS FROM "THE AMERICAN SONGBAG." NO MORE MOANING, NO NO MORE MOANING NO MORE MOANING, NOT FOR ME WELL, HE WAS A GREAT PERFORMER, OF COURSE. HE WAS A HAM. HE HAD THAT GUITAR -- HE WASN'T A GREAT GUITAR PLAYER, SEE, BUT HE COULD SING OUT, STRING OUT THOSE WORDS, YOU KNOW, FOREVER AND EVER. THE WORDS WOULD COME ROLLING OUT.

AND BEFORE I'D BE A SLAVE I'LL BE BURIED IN MY GRAVE AND GO HOME TO MY LORD AND BE FREE "SANDBAG'S SONGBIRD," WOODY GUTHRIE CALLED IT. WOODY WAS ALWAYS CRACKING JOKES AND PUNS, BUT HE APPRECIATED THE BOOK. SANDBURG SAW THE SONGS AS AN EXPRESSION OF THE AMERICAN CHARACTER, WHICH REVERBERATED THROUGH THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE OF THE 20th CENTURY.

Niven

IT WAS A MAJOR WORK AND A VALUABLE CONTRIBUTION TO THE PRESERVATION OF AN AMERICAN LEGACY IN MUSIC.

Narrator

WITH THE COLLAPSE OF THE AMERICA STOCK MARKET IN 1929, THE GREAT DEPRESSION BEGAN. BUT FOR SANDBURG, THE 1930s CONTINUED HIS PROLIFIC OUTPUT AND HIS PERSONAL SUCCESS. WITH A REGULAR INCOME FROM HIS BOOKS, SPEAKING TOURS, AND NEWSWRITING, SANDBURG HAD MOVED HIS FAMILY TO A NEW HOUSE ALONG THE SAND DUNES OF LAKE MICHIGAN IN THE SPRING OF 1928. IT WAS AN IDEAL PLACE FOR HIM TO WRITE AS PAULA MANAGED THE HOUSE, A GARDEN, AND A GROWING LIST OF FARM ANIMALS, ALONG WITH THEIR THREE DAUGHTERS -- MARGARET, JANET, AND HELGA.

THE LAKE AND ITS WIDE BEACH ALLOWED SANDBURG SPACE TO THINK AND TO TAKE LONG WALKS WHILE HE WRESTLED WITH WRITING "THE WAR YEARS." PAULA'S BROTHER, EDWARD STEICHEN -- BY THEN, A WELL-KNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER, VISITED OFTEN AND CAPTURED IMAGES OF SANDBURG AND THE FAMILY. BUT AS THE COUNTRY REELED FROM UNEMPLOYMENT AND POVERTY, SANDBURG WAS REMINDED OF HIS SMOLDERING SOCIALISTIC VIEWS AND HE PUT THE LINCOLN WORK ASIDE AND LAUNCHED INTO THE LONGEST AND MOST COMPLEX POEM OF HIS LIFE.

Crile

AND HE WROTE HIS FRIENDS, HE SAID, "I'M STOPPING MY LINCOLN BIO, "BUT I WILL GET BACK TO IT. "FIRST, I HAVE THIS INSIDE ME. THIS HAS TO COME OUT." THEN HE STOPPED WHAT HE WAS DOING, AND HE WROTE THIS GREAT THING FOR THE PEOPLE.

Sandburg

STREET WALKING JOB HUNTERS, WALKERS ALIVE AND KEEN. SLEEPWALKERS DRIFTING ALONG. THE STUPEFIED AND HOPELESS DOWN-AND-OUTS. THE GAME-FIGHTERS WHO WILL DIE FIGHTING, THE PEOPLE, YES, THESE ARE HEROES THEN AMONG THE PLAIN PEOPLE, HEROES, DID YOU SAY?

AND WHY NOT? THEY GIVE ALL THEY'VE GOT AND ASK NO QUESTIONS AND TAKE WHAT COMES. AND WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?

Lilian

HE HAD A MESSAGE, A DEFINITE MESSAGE, IN "THE PEOPLE, YES," AND... IT EXPRESSED HIS FAITH IN THE PEOPLE. AND HE COULD SEE WHAT'S TO COME IN YEARS TO COME. HE COULD SEE THE THINGS THAT WE'RE STILL HOPING FOR RIGHT HERE NOW FOR THE FUTURE OF AMERICA.

"THE PEOPLE, YES" CAME IN THE HEART OF THE DEPRESSION, BUT SANDBURG, IN A SENSE, HAD BEEN WRITING "THE PEOPLE, YES" ALL OF HIS LIFE. IT IS AN EPIC POEM. THERE IS SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY, SOMETHING ABOUT EVERYBODY, SOMETHING FROM EVERYBODY. THE FIRST LINE -- "GET OFF MY LAND." "WHAT FOR?

"BECAUSE IT'S MINE. WHERE DID YOU GET IT?" "I GOT IT FROM MY FATHER. WHERE'D HE GET IT?" "FROM HIS FATHER." "WHERE'D HE GET IT?" "HE FOUGHT FOR IT. OKAY, I'LL FIGHT YOU FOR IT." "WELL, I'LL FIGHT YOU FOR IT." BIBLICAL QUALITY, TO ME, IT STANDS ALONGSIDE THE BIBLE AND SHAKESPEARE ON MY SHELF.

THIS OLD ANVIL, THE PEOPLE, YES, LAUGHS AT MANY BROKEN HAMMERS. WHEN SANDBURG WAS COLLECTING AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC, HE WAS SIMULTANEOUSLY COLLECTING AMERICAN FOLK LINGO, FOLK WISDOM. HE WAS TAKING DOWN OUR HISTORY IN MUSIC, AND HE WAS TAKING DOWN OUR HISTORY IN LANGUAGE.

Sandburg

IN THE POOL ROOMS, THE YOUNG HEAR, "ASHES TO ASHES, DUST TO DUST, IF THE WOMEN DON'T GET YOU, THEN THE WHISKEY MUST." AND IN THE CHURCHES, WE WALK BY FAITH AND NOT BY SIGHT. HE FELT GENUINELY THAT WORK WAS MAN'S OBLIGATION, HIS CALLING, HIS DUTY, AND HIS SALVATION. WHEN I'M ASKED WHAT'S MY FAVORITE POEM, I SAY, "IT'S ALL IN ONE BOOK, IT TAKES ONE WHOLE BOOK. IT'S CALLED, 'THE PEOPLE, YES.'" AND I THINK THAT WHILE "CHICAGO POEMS" ARE GREAT AND ALL OF HIS POEMS ARE GREAT, THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT "THE PEOPLE, YES" WHERE HE REALLY KNOCKED HIMSELF OUT.

THE PEOPLE WILL LIVE ON. THE LEARNING AND BLUNDERING PEOPLE WILL LIVE ON. THEY WILL BE TRICKED AND SOLD AND AGAIN SOLD. AND GO BACK TO THE NOURISHING EARTH FOR ROOTHOLDS.

THE FAMOUS SANDBURG POEMS, YOU KNOW, "THE PEOPLE, YES" AND SO ON, ARE FAMOUS BECAUSE THEY ARE SO MUCH AT THE CORE OF WHAT HE WAS ABOUT, I THINK. IN THE DARKNESS WITH A GREAT BUNDLE OF GRIEF, THE PEOPLE MARCH. IN THE NIGHT AND OVERHEAD A SHOVEL OF STARS FOR KEEPS, THE PEOPLE MARCH. WHERE TO?

WHAT NEXT? WHERE TO? WHAT NEXT? "WHERE TO?

WHAT NEXT?" WELL, WHAT OTHER QUESTION CAN YOU ASK TODAY? "WHERE TO? WHAT NEXT?" AND HE'S OPTIMISTIC, HE'S "WE'LL YET WIN," AND HE THOUGHT, "THE PEOPLE, YES." WELL, I ALSO SAY "THE PEOPLE, YES," BUT I HAVE TO ADD A PROVISO -- THE PEOPLE, PERHAPS. SO I THINK IN ITS TITLE, IN ITS EPIC SCOPE, AND IN ITS SUBSTANCE, IT'S THE CAPSTONE.

"THE PEOPLE, YES" IS NOT A DEAD DOCUMENT. IT'S NOT A DEAD LETTER AT ALL. IT'S ALIVE, AND IT WILL COME BACK. BUT IS SANDBURG ALIVE?

WELL, HE IS -- ALL I CAN SAY IS, HE IS TO ME!

Narrator

IN 1940, CARL SANDBURG WON HIS FIRST PULITZER PRIZE, THIS ONE IN HISTORY FOR "ABRAHAM LINCOLN -- THE WAR YEARS."

ENGINES DRONING

EXPLOSIONS

Narrator

AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR, THE BOOK WAS A POPULAR AND CRITICAL SUCCESS AS THE NATION GROPED FOR AN UNDERSTANDING OF WAR. ALL THE ATROCITIES KNOWN TO MANKIND COME WITH WAR IN GREATER DEGREE. WAR IS TERRIBLE TO LOOK AT. DURING THESE WAR YEARS, SANDBURG WAS AGAIN AN ACTIVE JOURNALIST.

WITH THIS WAR, HE HAD NO QUALMS ABOUT BEING A BOLD PATRIOT. THIS WAS A DIFFERENT WAR IN DIFFERENT TIMES. HE HAD EARNED A PLACE AS AN INFLUENTIAL COMMENTATOR WRITING A WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE CHICAGO TIMES, SPEAKING TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ON THE RADIO, AND WITH PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT PERSONALLY. AS THE WAR PROGRESSED, HE COMFORTED, HE CLARIFIED, AND HE ILLUMINATED THE COMPLEX ISSUES OF THE WAR, FULLY ASSUMING A ROLE HE WOULD NEVER RESIGN -- THAT OF THE NATION'S CONSCIENCE.

CARL SANDBURG EARNED HIS STATUS AS THE HIGHLY VISIBLE POET OF THE PEOPLE AND THE PUBLIC CITIZEN BY YEARS AND YEARS AND YEARS IN THE TRENCHES, IF YOU WILL. YEARS DEVOTED TO THE BEST KIND OF JOURNALISM HE COULD PRODUCE TO HELP ARTICULATE AND RECORD AND DOCUMENT THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE.

Sandburg

OH, I HAD A HORSE AND HIS NAME WAS BILL AND WHEN HE RAN HE COULDN'T STAND STILL HE RAN AWAY ONE DAY AND ALSO I RAN WITH HIM

Narrator

AS THE WAR ENDED, SANDBURG AND HIS FAMILY WERE READY FOR A CHANGE. PAULA WANTED SPACE, MILDER WINTERS, AND A BETTER PLACE WHERE THEY COULD RAISE THEIR PRIZE-WINNING GOATS. MOTHER AND I GOT AN IDEA THAT WE WOULD LIKE, PERHAPS, TO HAVE PASTURES AND TO HAVE A MARVELOUS PLACE FOR OUR GOATS -- THAT THEY COULD RUN FREE. WE WERE FROZEN OUT OF OUR PLACE IN MICHIGAN.

IT REALLY GOT TOO COLD THERE. THE WINDS, WE HAD A PLACE ON THE SHORES OF LAKE MICHIGAN, ON A HIGH BLUFF. AND THE WINDS USED TO COME ALL THE WAY FROM LAKE SUPERIOR AND JUST HIT OUR FACE, RIGHT -- HA HA! OR OUR HOUSE YOU MIGHT SAY, RIGHT IN THE NOSE.

BUT I MEAN...

Niven

THIS MAN, WHO MAY HAVE BEEN THE MOST FAMOUS MIDWESTERNER OF HIS TIME, TRANSPLANTED HIMSELF TO THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTH CAROLINA IN 1945.

Narrator

SANDBURG, HIS WIFE, HIS THREE DAUGHTERS, AND THEIR TWO GRANDCHILDREN -- JOHN CARL AND PAULA -- MOVED INTO THE CIVIL WAR-ERA HOME AND EXPANSIVE FARM KNOWN AS CONNEMARA. HE MOVED HERE BECAUSE HE WAS TOLD TO MOVE HERE BY HIS WIFE AND DAUGHTERS.

LAUGHS

Narrator

HE DIDN'T MOVE HERE BECAUSE HE PICKED THIS OUT. HE MOVED HERE BECAUSE THEY PICKED IT OUT FOR HIM. YOU KNOW, WE HAD THE COWS, THE HORSES, THE SHEEP, THE DOGS, THE CATS, THE BUNNIES, THE GUINEA PIGS, AND A LOT OF GOATS. THE HOME WAS HISTORIC BEFORE THE SANDBURGS MOVED IN AS IT HAD BEEN BUILT BY A CABINET MEMBER OF THE CONFEDERACY.

SANDBURG SAID MANY TIMES, "IT'S A HELL OF AN ESTATE FOR AN OLD SOCIALIST LIKE ME!" HE WAS VERY HAPPY WITH IT BECAUSE THE HOUSE WAS A LONG WAY FROM THE BARNS AND MY MOTHER AND I WERE IN PARADISE. AND I THINK THAT CONNEMARA WAS SO HEALTHY FOR HIM. THERE'S A SECLUSION HERE THAT I COULDN'T OF POSSIBLY HAVE HAD IN MICHIGAN. AND A QUIET AND A PEACEFULNESS.

DO YOU FIND YOU WRITE OUTDOORS A GREAT DEAL? YES.

Niven

SO THERE WAS ROOM, THERE WAS PRIVACY, THERE WAS THE NATURAL BEAUTY. IT WAS A VERY CREATIVE PLACE. AND WHEN YOU STEPPED INTO THE HOUSE, YOU NOT ONLY SAW THE EVIDENCE OF SANDBURG'S CREATIVITY, BUT YOU SAW MRS. SANDBURG'S FARM OFFICE, AND YOU SAW THE EVIDENCE OF HER CREATIVITY IN QUITE A DIFFERENT FIELD.

HE LOVED TO WALK THE TRAILS WITH HIS WIFE AND DAUGHTERS. HE LOVED TO GO UP ON THE ROCK, THE OUTCROPPING OF ROCK BEHIND THE HOUSE, AND SIT IN THE SUN WITH HIS VISOR AND WRITE.

Narrator

IN 1948, FIVE YEARS OF SANDBURG'S WRITING RESULTED IN A 1,000-PAGE NOVEL, "REMEMBRANCE ROCK." IT DID NOT WIN OVER THE CRITICS, BUT THE RELEASE OF HIS COMPLETE POEMS JUST TWO YEARS LATER, NETTED SANDBURG A SECOND PULITZER PRIZE, THIS TIME IN POETRY. THE AWARD EXPOSED HIS VAST BODY OF WORK TO MORE SCRUTINY FROM CRITICS. SOME HE KNEW WELL, LIKE WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS, AND OTHERS FOR WHOM HE HAD LESS APPRECIATION. THERE IS BEING WRITTEN TODAY A LOT OF CEREBRAL POETRY, POETRY OUT OF THE BRAIN, WITH NOTHING OF THE BLOOD IN IT.

THE NEW CRITICS WERE UNMERCIFUL IN THEIR ASSESSMENT OF SANDBURG.

O'Brien

THE WAVE OF CRITICISM IN POETRY THAT CAME IN WAS EXTREMELY HOSTILE TO POPULISM, TO LEFTISM, TO THE KIND OF FREE VERSE OUTPOURING THAT, RIGHTLY OR WRONGLY, PEOPLE ASSOCIATE WITH SANDBURG. THERE WAS A MUCH GREATER EMPHASIS ON DIFFICULT CRAFT, ON LITERARY ALLUSION. AND IT'S RATHER PATHETIC. YOU NEED FOOTNOTES, AND YOU NEED DIAGRAMS.

THEY WANTED TO SEE SOMETHING NEW, AND SO THE POETRY OF T.S. ELIOT WAS ACCOMPLISHING THOSE GOALS AND WAS MEETING THEIR NEEDS. AND THE POETRY OF EZRA POUND WAS DOING THE SAME. OR THERE ARE READERS OF IT THAT SAY, "I UNDERSTOOD IT UNTIL YOU EXPLAINED IT TO ME."

Villarreal

ELITISM ALSO WORKED AGAINST CARL SANDBURG'S REPUTATION. MANY OF THE HIGH MODERNISTS CLEARLY HAD PUSHED SANDBURG OUT INTO THE PERIPHERY, BUT HIS BOOK SALES, RIGHT, AND THE ASSESSMENT THAT THE COMMON PEOPLE HAD OF SANDBURG HAD NEVER BEEN HIGHER. IN 1951, WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS WROTE A VERY, NOW FAMOUS, NEGATIVE REVIEW OF CARL SANDBURG'S "COMPLETE POEMS." BUT THAT SAME YEAR, SANDBURG WON THE PULITZER PRIZE.

Niven

IT RANKLED HIM. IT OCCASIONALLY HURT HIM. CERTAINLY THE WILLIAMS REVIEW DID BECAUSE IT WAS SO UNEXPECTED, AND IT CAME FROM SOMEONE WHOSE JUDGMENT HE TRUSTED AND WHOSE FRIENDSHIP HE VALUED. SO THAT WAS PARTICULARLY HARMFUL, AND CERTAINLY, THAT PARTICULAR REVIEW HAD ITS REPERCUSSIONS IN THE CULTURAL AND ARTISTIC COMMUNITY FOR QUITE A LONG TIME.

THAT REVIEW REVERBERATED. SANDBURG NEEDS TO BE READ ON HIS OWN TERMS. HE IS ONE OF, I THINK, ONE OF VERY FEW LITERARY FIGURES IN THE 20th CENTURY WHO WAS DOING SOMETHING RADICALLY DIFFERENT. SANDBURG, I THINK ALWAYS, FROM THE BEGINNING, BROKE OUT OF FORM.

YOU KNOW, FROST ARGUED WITH HIM IN HIS FAMOUS LINE ABOUT FREE VERSE AND WHAT HAVE YOU, ABOUT, "IT'S LIKE PLAYING TENNIS WITH THE NET DOWN." WELL, GUESS WHAT? SANDBURG WAS NEVER INTERESTED IN PLAYING TENNIS. ANYBODY WHO WANTS TO SAY ANYTHING ABOUT MY FATHER, I NEVER DEFENDED MY FATHER, EVER. I FELT EVERYBODY OUGHT TO SAY WHAT THEY WANTED TO SAY.

I COULD SAY WHAT I WANTED TO SAY. THEY COULD SAY -- I WOULD NEVER SAY TO SOMEBODY, "YOU CANNOT SAY THAT MY FATHER IS A FOOL, OR MY FATHER'S POEMS ARE NOTHING LIKE THEY USED TO BE." PEOPLE WERE ALWAYS SAYING THAT, I MEAN, ALWAYS. AND IT WASN'T ONLY WILLIAMS, IT WAS OTHERS. BUT IF THEY WANT TO SAY IT, LET THEM SAY IT.

THE POEMS THERE EXIST. YOU CAN GO AND READ THEM AND SEE IF YOU AGREE. ANY ARTIST WITH LONGEVITY, ANY PROLIFIC ARTIST IN ANY MEDIUM, SOME OF THE WORK IS GONNA SURVIVE AND SOME OF IT ISN'T. AND SOME OF IT SHOULD SURVIVE AND SOME OF IT SHOULDN'T.

IT'S JUST AS SIMPLE AS THAT.

Sandburg

THERE'S A MAN GOING ROUND TAKING NAMES THERE'S A MAN GOING ROUND TAKING NAMES AND HE TOOK MY FATHER'S NAME AND HE LEAVES MY HEART IN PAIN...

Narrator

BUT HANGING OVER MID-20th CENTURY AMERICA WERE THE GROWING COLD WAR WITH THE SOVIET UNION AND THE THREATS OF COMMUNISM AND GLOBAL NUCLEAR WARFARE. EVEN THE GRANDFATHERLY SANDBURG DID NOT ESCAPE SUSPICIONS. HIS FBI FILE REVEALS HIS NAME ON DOZENS OF LISTS WITH PEOPLE THAT WERE EXTENSIVELY REVIEWED AND SURVEILLED. ROBERT FROST ONCE WROTE, "I NEVER DARED BE RADICAL WHEN YOUNG FOR FEAR IT WOULD MAKE ME CONSERVATIVE WHEN OLD." YOU WERE A RADICAL WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG.

ARE YOU STILL? I HAVE SYMPATHY WITH ALL RADICALS. YOU OUGHT TO BE A SENATOR, MR. SANDBURG, THE WAY YOU ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION.

THE QUESTION WAS, ARE YOU A RADICAL TODAY, NOT HAVE YOU SYMPATHY FOR RADICALS? ALL RIGHT. ALWAYS AS BETWEEN RADICALS AND CONSERVATIVES, I CHOSE THE RADICALS. BUT AS TENSIONS WITH THE SOVIET UNION GREW, SANDBURG JOINED HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW EDWARD STEICHEN TO WORK ON A LANDMARK PHOTOGRAPHIC PROJECT THAT THEY HAD DISCUSSED FOR YEARS.

Crile

THE TWO OF THEM ALWAYS WERE CLOSE BECAUSE THEY WERE BOTH KIND OF RENEGADES. YOU KNOW, THEY BOTH FOUGHT AGAINST THE ESTABLISHMENT IN THEIR OWN WAY.

Narrator

THE "FAMILY OF MAN" EXHIBIT CONSISTED OF 503 PHOTOGRAPHS FROM 68 COUNTRIES.

Niven

PICTURES THAT WOULD, AS HE SAID, EXPRESS US TO OURSELVES, SHOW US THE UNITY, NOT THE DIVERSITY OF LIFE SO MUCH AS THE COMMON THREAD OF LIFE, A PROJECT DEAR TO SANDBURG'S HEART. AND HE AND STEICHEN COLLABORATED ON "THE FAMILY OF MAN" PHRASE DRAWN FROM BIBLICAL TEXT THROUGH THE LINCOLN BIOGRAPHY. THAT'S WHERE STEICHEN FOUND WHAT HE WANTED TO BE THE TITLE OF THIS GREAT EXHIBITION. SANDBURG WROTE THE TEXT.

IT WAS A BOLD THING TO DO. IT WAS A BRAVE THING TO DO. IT WAS A CONTROVERSIAL THING TO DO. THIS IS RIGHT IN THE MIDST OF THE McCARTHY ERA.

Narrator

IN 1959, THE EXHIBIT TRAVELED TO MOSCOW AS PART OF THE AMERICAN NATIONAL EXHIBITION. THERE, SANDBURG AND STEICHEN, UNDER THE WATCHFUL EYES OF BOTH GOVERNMENTS, SHARED THE EXHIBIT WITH THE SOVIET PUBLIC AND MET WITH ARTISTS AND WRITERS -- LIKE A YOUNG POET DESTINED TO GAIN INTERNATIONAL FAME HIMSELF -- YEVGENY YEVTUSHENKO.

Man

WHAT DID YOU TRY TO TELL THE SOVIET WRITERS, MR. SANDBURG, WHEN YOU TALKED WITH THEM? WE -- HA HA. WE TRIED TO TELL THEM THE PRAVDA, BUT...

Narrator

UPON THEIR RETURN, THEY WERE DEBRIEFED ON THE TELEVISION PROGRAM "MEET THE PRESS."

Sandburg

AND THOSE THAT WENT IN TO SEE THE PHOTOGRAPHS ACTED AS THOUGH THEY WERE SEEING PEOPLE RATHER THAN PICTURES OF PEOPLE. MR. STEICHEN, YOU'VE SPENT A LIFETIME STUDYING AND OBSERVING PEOPLE. AND I KNOW YOU SAW A GREAT MANY RUSSIANS AT CLOSE RANGE AT YOUR RECENT EXHIBIT.

COULD YOU TELL FROM THOSE FACES AND FROM YOUR EXCHANGES WITH THEM WHETHER THIS WAS A HAPPY PEOPLE, THE KIND OF HAPPY PEOPLE THAT YOU FIND IN FREE NATIONS? WELL, HAPPINESS, REAL HAPPINESS, IS AN INNER THING. IT'S A VERY DIFFICULT THING TO SEE. I FOUND IN THEIR DAILY BEHAVIOR THAT THEY WERE JUST LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE.

THEY'RE A VERY LOVABLE PEOPLE. SO IT WAS, I THINK, A FRUITION OF A DREAM FAR BEYOND THEY MIGHT HAVE ANTICIPATED, AND IT TRAVELED AROUND THE WORLD.

Narrator

AS SANDBURG ENTERED THE FINAL DECADE OF HIS LIFE, HE CONTINUED TO WRITE, PRODUCING WORK WELL INTO THE 1960s. HE REMAINED ACTIVE IN POLITICS, CAMPAIGNING FOR JOHN KENNEDY'S PRESIDENTIAL BID. AND AS KENNEDY BEGAN TO FACE THE CHALLENGES OF THE TIMES, HE, TOO, LIKE ROOSEVELT IN WARTIME, TURNED TO SANDBURG FOR INSIGHT.

Crile

WHEN FDR WAS TRYING TO FIGURE OUT A WAY OF GETTING INTO THE WAR AND PERSUADING THE PEOPLE INTO THE WAR -- HE DIDN'T KNOW THAT THE JAPANESE WERE GOING TO START IT -- BUT HE HAD MY FATHER COME IN AND DISCUSS LINCOLN WITH HIM. AND I THINK KENNEDY HAD A LITTLE OF THAT SAME FEELING. HE WANTED TO SEE HOW MY FATHER FELT ABOUT THE PEOPLE AND ABOUT WORLD EVENTS AT THAT TIME. AND I LOVE THE PICTURE OF MY FATHER, BECAUSE HE PICKED UP THE PILLOW, AND IS SITTING THERE WITH THE PILLOW IN HIS LAP AND TELLING KENNEDY HOW IT IS.

TERRIBLE, THE WORLD SITUATION THAT HE FACES. AND... SO FAR... SO FAR, HE'S DONE ABOUT AS WELL AS ANY MAN COULD.

Narrator

HE CONSULTED ON A MAJOR HOLLYWOOD FILM, "THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD." AND A YOUNG RADIO AND SCREENPLAY WRITER NAMED NORMAN CORWIN WROTE A PLAY ABOUT HIS LIFE AND WORK CALLED "THE WORLD OF CARL SANDBURG." IT WAS PRODUCED ON BROADWAY AND TOURED THE COUNTRY. HE HAD A PIPELINE INTO THE CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE BETTER INSTINCTS OF PEOPLE. AMONG ANCIENT AND MODERN ARCHITECTS, THERE IS A PRINCIPLE OR PROVERB. "THE ARCH NEVER SLEEPS." FROM THIS, WE MIGHT DERIVE, WHEN THE ARCH HOLDS, ALL ELSE HOLDS.

LOVE STANDS AND HANGS BY AN ARCH. THE RAINBOW IS AN ARCH. HATE AND PRIDE BREAK ARCHES. LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING BUILD UNBREAKABLE ARCHES.

WHAT AMERICA IS TO BE, AMERICA WILL BE BECAUSE OUR TRUST IN AND OF THE INDIVIDUAL AND OF HIS CAPACITY FOR EXCELLENCE. IN 1964, IN A ROOM AT THE WHITE HOUSE FILLED WITH LUMINARIES INCLUDING HELEN KELLER, JOHN STEINBECK, AARON COPLAND, WALT DISNEY, AND EDWARD R. MURROW, GATHERED TO RECEIVE THE SAME HONOR, PRESIDENT LYNDON JOHNSON PRESENTED SANDBURG WITH THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM.

APPLAUSE

Narrator

AND AT A GRAND EVENT IN CHICAGO CELEBRATING HIS 85th BIRTHDAY, SANDBURG, WITH HIS WIFE ADMIRING HIM, READ ONE OF HIS FINAL POEMS, "HONEY AND SALT." IS THE KEY TO LOVE IN PASSION, KNOWLEDGE, AFFECTION? ALL THREE, ALONG WITH MOONLIGHT, ROSES, GROCERIES, GIVINGS AND FORGIVINGS, GETTINGS AND FORGETTINGS, KEEPSAKES AND ROOM RENT, PEARLS OF MEMORY ALONG WITH HAM AND EGGS. THE DAY CARL SANDBURG DIED, JULY 22, 1967, A MAGNOLIA BLOSSOMED AT HIS BEDSIDE TABLE, CHOPIN PLAYED ON A NEARBY PHONOGRAPH. HE HAD LIVED 89 YEARS, IN THE END, SUCCUMBING TO WHAT WAS ESSENTIALLY AGE.

BESIDE HIM IN HIS FINAL DAYS WAS HIS WIFE OF 60 YEARS. "YOU ARE YOURSELF THE ACHIEVEMENT," SHE HAD WRITTEN TO HIM IN 1908. HE HAD WRITTEN, "LIFE IS A RIVER ON WHICH WE DRIFT DOWN THROUGH AN UNEXPLORED COUNTRY." IN LIFE, HE SPOKE AND SANG MILLIONS OF WORDS, AND THE LAST ONE WOULD BE HER NAME. IN THE DAYS THAT FOLLOWED, HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW EDWARD STEICHEN WOULD GENTLY PLACE A PINE BOUGH UPON HIS CASKET.

HIS WIFE WOULD COURAGEOUSLY SAY, "NOW HE BELONGS TO THE WORLD." NEWSPAPERS WROTE ELOQUENT TRIBUTES TO SANDBURG. TELEVISION AND RADIO REPRISED SOME OF HIS FINEST MOMENTS. AND PRESIDENT LYNDON JOHNSON EULOGIZED SANDBURG BEFORE A VAST AUDIENCE AT THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL.

Johnson

WELL, CARL SANDBURG IS GONE. HE IS A PART OF THE EARTH THAT HE CELEBRATED IN ILLINOIS AND NORTH CAROLINA. HE'S A PART OF THE AMERICAN EARTH. WHAT WILL LIVE ON FOREVER THOUGH, IS HIS FAITH...

HIS FAITH IN THE INDIVIDUAL HUMAN BEINGS WHOM WE IMPERSONALLY CALL AMERICANS. I WILL MISS HIM. WE WILL ALL MISS HIM. THERE WILL NOT BE ONE LIKE HIM AGAIN.

Narrator

WHILE HIS ASHES WOULD BE BURIED BENEATH A BOULDER AT HIS BIRTH PLACE IN GALESBURG, ILLINOIS, HIS FINAL HOME, CONNEMARA, BECAME A NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE, REMINDING MILLIONS OF "THE PEOPLE" WHO VISIT OF HIS DYNAMIC AND INFLUENTIAL LIFE AND HIS ENDURING IDEAS. "I AM THE PEOPLE, THE MOB, THE CROWD, THE MASS. "DO YOU KNOW THAT ALL THE GREAT WORK OF THE WORLD "IS DONE THROUGH ME? "I AM THE WORKING MAN, "THE INVENTOR, THE MAKER OF THE WORLD'S FOOD AND CLOTHES.

"I AM THE AUDIENCE THAT WITNESSES HISTORY. "THE NAPOLEONS COME FROM ME, AND THE LINCOLNS, THEY DIE."

Metz

HE WANTED TO INSPIRE PEOPLE TO AFFIRM THEIR RIGHTS, THEIR PLACE, THEIR IMPORTANCE, THEIR SIGNIFICANCE AS A PART OF THE ONGOING AMERICAN EXPERIENCE.

Van Wienen

HE FOUGHT FOR THE IDEAL OF PEOPLE WHO WORK HARD, WHO ARE FAIR, OUGHT TO BE ABLE TO DO WELL, TO MAKE IT, TO FEEL SECURE IN AMERICA. I THINK THE NATION NEEDS TO KNOW THAT AGAIN. I THINK THEY NEED TO BE ABLE TO FEEL THAT THERE'S A SOLIDARITY, THAT THERE'S A CORE AT THE CENTER OF THE AMERICAN IDENTITY THAT EVERYONE SHARES. AND SANDBURG BRINGS THAT VISION TO US.

Villarreal

WE NEED A FIGURE LIKE SANDBURG TO, ONCE AGAIN, REMIND US OF OUR HISTORY AND TO REMIND US OF THE IMPORTANCE OF POETRY IN OUR LIVES. IN CARL SANDBURG, LIKE IN EACH GREAT POET, YOU CAN FIND SO MANY ANSWERS FOR TODAY'S QUESTIONS.

Niven

IT WAS A MONTAGE OF A LIFE. IT WAS A GREAT BIG SWEEPING PANORAMA OF A LIFE. I THINK, A TRULY EXTRAORDINARY ARTICULATION OF THE AMERICAN DREAM, I THINK, IN A WAY THAT ONLY THE CHILD OF IMMIGRANTS COULD PERCEIVE IT AND EXPERIENCE IT AND EXPRESS IT.

Sandburg

I HAVE LED A GOOD LIFE FULL OF PEACE AND QUIET I SHALL HAVE AN OLD AGE FULL OF RUM AND RIOT I HAVE BEEN A GOOD BOY WED TO PEACE AND STUDY I SHALL HAVE AN OLD AGE RIBALD, COARSE, AND BLOODY I HAVE NEVER CUT THROATS EVEN WHEN I'VE YEARNED TO NEVER SANG DIRTY SONGS THAT MY FANCY TURNED TO I HAVE BEEN A NICE BOY AND DONE WHAT WAS EXPECTED I SHALL BE AN OLD BUM LOVED BUT UNRESPECTED BE MORE. PBS.