Author-poet Carl Sandburg was born in the three-room cottage
at 313 East Third Street in
Galesburg on January 6, 1878 . The modest house, which is
maintained by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, reflects the typical
living conditions of a late nineteenth century working-class family. Many of
the furnishings once belonged to the Sandburg family. Behind the home stands a
small wooded park. There, beneath Remembrance Rock, lie the ashes of Carl
Sandburg, who died in 1967.
Early Years
Carl August Sandburg was born the son of Swedish immigrants
August and Clara Anderson Sandburg. The elder Sandburg, a blacksmith's helper
for the nearby Chicago , Burlington
and Quincy Railroad, purchased the cottage in 1873. Carl, called
"Charlie" by the family, was born the second of seven children in
1878. A year later the Sandburgs sold the small cottage in favor of a larger
house in Galesburg .
Carl Sandburg worked from the time he was a young boy. He
quit school following his graduation from eighth grade in 1891 and spent a
decade working a variety of jobs. He delivered milk, harvested ice, laid
bricks, threshed wheat in Kansas ,
and shined shoes in Galesburg 's
Union Hotel before traveling as a hobo in 1897.
His experiences working and traveling greatly influenced his
writing and political views. As a hobo he learned a number of folk songs, which
he later performed at speaking engagements. He saw first-hand the sharp
contrast between rich and poor, a dichotomy that instilled in him a distrust of
capitalism.
When the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898 Sandburg
volunteered for service, and at the age of twenty was ordered to Puerto Rico,
where he spent days battling only heat and mosquitoes. Upon his return to his
hometown later that year, he entered Lombard
College , supporting himself as a
call fireman.
Sandburg's college years shaped his literary talents and
political views. While at Lombard , Sandburg joined the
Poor Writers' Club, an informal literary organization whose members met to read
and criticize poetry. Poor Writers' founder, Lombard
professor Phillip Green Wright, a talented scholar and political liberal,
encouraged the talented young Sandburg.
Writer, Political Organizer, Reporter
Sandburg honed his writing skills and adopted the socialist
views of his mentor before leaving school in his senior year. Sandburg sold
stereoscope views and wrote poetry for two years before his first book of verse, In
Reckless Ecstasy, was printed on Wright's basement press in 1904. Wright
printed two more volumes for Sandburg, Incidentals (1907) and The
Plaint of a Rose (1908).
As the first decade of the century wore on, Sandburg grew
increasingly concerned with the plight of the American worker. In 1907 he
worked as an organizer for the Wisconsin Social Democratic party, writing and
distributing political pamphlets and literature. At party headquarters in Milwaukee ,
Sandburg met Lilian Steichen, whom he married in 1908.
The responsibilities of marriage and family prompted a
career change. Sandburg returned to Illinois
and took up journalism. For several years he worked as a reporter for the
Chicago Daily News, covering mostly labor issues and later writing his own
feature.
No comments:
Post a Comment