Biography of Carl Sandburg

Hannah Boothman

On January 6, 1878 Carl Sandburg was born in Galesburg, Illinois. Carl Sandburg was born into a poor Swedish family and had to work many jobs including delivering milk and ice blocks. He worked many long hard hours after school, but only earned $12 a month and which he gave to help his family. Carl Sandburg loved music, writing, traveling, and making homemade instruments. Plus, he always had his nose in a book.

Unfortunately, his two younger brothers died when he was just a teenager.

When he was 35 he worked as a blacksmith at nearby railroads. After that, he went across the country as a hobo and worked in Kansas doing wheat harvest and sitting by a campfire a singing campfire songs. He also loved sleeping under the sky and gazing at the stars, while, writing more poetry for his collection.

When he came back to Illinois, he wrote more poetry, but it was more for kids and less for adults. Also, he started writing folk songs along with poetry, reviewing movies and he was awarded many rewards for his work on movies.

Later on, he met a school teacher named Lillian Steichan who he fell in love with.

Lillian and he soon got married and had four kids. Margaret, their oldest daughter, had epilepsy where she had constant seizures. Later on, they had their youngest children Janet and Helga, Soon, when Carl was in his 60’s he and his family moved to a mountain side home in North Carolina where Helga helped him with many of his poems.

In conclusion, Carl Sandburg has a great way with words and it shows because of his many award winning poems and folk songs for children and adults.

Jazz Fantasia Carl Sandburg

Drum on your drums, batter on your banjoes. Sob on the long cool winding saxophones Go to it, O jazzman

Sling your knuckles on the bottoms of the happy Tin pans, let your trombones ooze, and go husha- Husha-hush with the slippery sandpaper

Moan like autumn wind high in the lonesome tree tops Moan soft like you wanted somebody terrible, Cry like a racing car slipping away from a motorcycle Cop, bang- bang! You jazzmen, bang altogether drums, Traps, banjoes, horns, tin cans make two people fight On the top of a stairway and scratch each other’s eyes In a clinch tumbling down the stairs

Can the rough stuff…now a Mississippi steamboat Pushes up the night river with a hoo-hoo-hoo-oo… And the green lanterns calling to the high soft stars …A red moon rides on the humps of the low river Hills…got to it, O jazzman. Jazz Fantasia Analysis

Hannah Boothman

In the poem “Jazz Fantasia” the narrator is trying to state that you do not need a professional instrument or need to be a famous musician because it is about being creative. Also, they say bang on the trashcans and slide the sand paper because it is not about being perfect it is about being creative. In the poem, they also say throughout it “O

Jazzman” I think that represents to let loose and be creative especially in a situation when they’re having so much fun. In the poem the narrator must have liked onomatopoeia because he used a lot of bangs and crashes, which is a good literary device to use in a

“loud” poem like this. Another literary device they used is personification because when he said the racecar is crying it gives the racecar a trait that human beings would get not an inanimate object. Also, it is good because it tells how the racecar really was acting.

Also, I think the instruments represent the obstacles in his life like when he was poor, when he went around the country, and when he got married and the musician would be himself. He is steering his obstacles to make his life right, like a musician would make his instrument sound better. Therefore, I think the poem is like a metaphor for his life and what he went through.

In conclusion, “Jazz Fantasia” was an enjoyable poem because of its meaning, literary devices, and its metaphors. Summary

Hannah Boothman

In “Jazz Fantasia” the theme it is trying to state is that you do not need to be a well-known musician to make music. In the poem Carl Sandburg lists many objects that make noise. Meaning, that any noise can be music and it does not matter if it is not an actual instrument just make some noise with it. Also, he uses many literacy devices like personification when he says the racecar cries because racecars cannot cry. Another device he uses is onomatopoeia when he says bang and crash. Finally, he uses alliteration when he said slide that sandpaper and batter on your banjoes.

The meaning of the poem to me is that the instruments represent the obstacles in his life like when he was poor and when he got married and the musician would be himself. I think this because the musician controls the instrument like how Carl Sandburg controlled his life and the obstacles and paths he took.