Karl Sandburg

1878-1967

Carl Sandburg, in his own original way, continued the traditions of Walt Whitman. He was born in Galesburg, Illinois. His parents had come to the United States from Sweden. In Galesburg his father worked at the railroad shops as a blacksmith's helper.

He developed an interest in literature early and he avidly read whatever he could get his hands on. He had to start earning his living quite early. At eleven, he worked at such jobs as sweeping the floors in an office, delivering newspapers, etc. (Enumerating all his jobs would take up too much space). He came into contact with a lot of different people, and his active mind has been registering many impressions.

At nineteen he went "to see the world" in a box-car of Santa Fe railroad line bound for Kansas without any luggage but a toothbrush and a bar of soap, also needle and thread, and with 3 dollars and some change in his pocket. He was gone during 3 months. And again the jobs he did put him into contact with a lot of various types: he unloaded some cargo from a steamboat, washed dishes, worked as a labourer repairing roads. Back home again, he enlisted when the Spanish American war broke out, and was sent to Puerto-Rico. That helped him, on his return, to get a year free tuition and an easy job with the Galesburg Fire Department. At college he enrolled for classes in Latin, English, chemistry, elocution, drama and public speaking. His interests were wide, he got to be captain of a basketball team and a member of the college choir, and editor of the college newspaper. Later he came into contact with a progressive professor who actually printed some of his early poems. He left the College of Galesburg before graduation and went on the road again as a hobo: he probably wanted his real education to continue. [77] He returned to Galesburg from time to time and worked on several small periodicals. In 1907 he joined the Socialist Party. In 1912 some of his works were published in "Poetry: A Magazine of Verse" founded by Harriet Monroe in 1912. His poem, "Chicago" was published in "Poetry" in 1914 and in 1916 his first serious book of poetry "Chicago Poems" was.

Since then, the working people, creators of the country's wealth, were his heroes in all his books of poetry: "Smoke and Steel", 1920, "Good Morning, America", 1928, "The People, Yes", 1936, "Early Moon", 1930, "Complete Poems", 1950, "Honey and Salt", 1963. All of these are distinguished by their democratic ardour, attention to the toilers creating this world, and highly impressive mastery of the poetical word.

Many poems by Carl Sandburg were successfully translated into Russian and Ukrainian by I. Kashkin, M. Zenkevich, A. Ibragimov, I. Kulik and V. Korotich.