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:
They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I
have seen your painted women under the gas lamps
luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it
is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to
kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the
faces of women and children I have seen the marks
of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who
sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer
and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing
so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cun-
ning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on
job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the
little soft cities;
Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning
as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,
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,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse,
and under his ribs 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.
Notes
Composition date is unknown - the above date represents the first publication date.
The lyrical form of this poem is unrhyming.
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Comments
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When Harriet Monroe (founder of Poetry Magazine) "found" Sandburg (he sent her this and other poems; he wasn't convinced that they were 'poetry'), she is said to have walked into another room and presented it to a colleague and claimed that she didn't know what to do with it.
Truly, we are seeing a revoltion in form and content from the turn of the century (Modernism). It is all too sad that Sandburg has gone by the wayside in teaching curricula. -
SANDBURG'S GENIUS IS SEEN IN THIS POEM.
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Is the shape of this poem supposed to be a factory with smoke coming out of it...I have been wondering about it, and I can't find anything proof saying its supposed to be.
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There is so much powerful verse to this piece. All through the entirety of the piece it is powerful. Wrought with angst (but not in a bad way) and it ecompasses throughout the piece from beginning to end.
It's just a really strong piece I feel. A great piece written by Sandburg.
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