Literary Devices In Chicago By Carl Sandburg

With many ways of transportation rolling the people of Chicago around, wheels “[strike] the pavement like rolling hammers-produc[ing] a constant thunder” (Larson 28) . By comparing the strikes the pavement takes to thunder, it becomes apparent the Black City is an overwhelming noisy place to be in. The audience is taken back because of the constant noise they would hear while walking down the streets or just being there. The immense amount of chaos going on contributes to Larson’s purpose of the negative connotation of the Black City. While the Black City takes on a chaotic role, the White City has an “inexhaustible dream of beauty” (Larson 252).

Repetition was used in every line in the poem besides lines two, eight, and thirteen. This element was used to show what was important in the poem to help the readers understand the real meaning. “Dead”(Line 1,14) is one word that was used several times in the poem to put emphasis on him dying and what he will miss when he is gown. “Her”(Line 9-12) was used seven times in the poem to show that the city of Manhattan is so important to him he is giving it human like characteristics. Also “When is” another important word repeated because it shows the author is thinking about a time when he will not be able to see the city he lives in

Baldwin gives a vivid sketch of the depressing conditions he grew up on in Fifth Avenue, Uptown by using strong descriptive words. He makes use of such word choices in his beginning sentences when he reflects back to his house which is now replaced by housing projects and “one of those stunted city trees is

The poem uses a vast amount of alliteration throughout it. The author is showing a pattern through their writing. He uses alliteration to give life to his words for a better understanding of what is happening.

“Wire legs and feet” means that the Sandpipers have very skinny legs and feet. It also means that skinny, weak people can sometimes stand up to everything. This gives the feeling that the sandpipers’ legs can stand up to anything. “Salt water kills” means that the salt in the water kills the plants that cannot fight the saltiness. This phrase also means that an overpower item can kill and wipe out everything except those who can fly away and come back to fight back. This gives the feeling that the saltwater is an overpowering force that control everything near it. “Pity anything but the…” means that the world is pitying everything on it but the sandpipers. Also, this means that the your mark on the world is a mark that most people don’t leave even if it fades into history. This give the feeling of sorrow for everything but the sandpipers. I determined that Carl Sandburg’s message is that while everyone might give up, keep trying and you’ll leave your

In this collection, he speaks out for workers and also accuses the wealthy for the situations of the laborers (Van Wienen 91). Sandburg even identifies with common laborers in his attempt to act as a voice for them (Van Wienen 92). The poems in this work address several political issues such as child labor, inhumane working conditions, and poverty (Van Wienen 98). Moreover, he attempted to elevate average laborers in his poetry and depict them as optimistic and energetic (Beyers 109). For instance, in Sandburg’s poem “Jack,” the main character experiences the death of his wife and the moving out of his children (Beyers 109). However, he spends every day in the sun and talks cheerfully with his friends (Beyers

He grew up around the common working man and even became one himself at a very young age. He got to hear stories of men who fought first hand in the war, and “recalls playing baseball in cow pastures, walking along dusty roads to the county fair, carrying water for the elephants at the circus, and swimming in the forbidden brickyard pond” (Angyal). Sandburg’s simplistic lifestyle greatly affected his style of writing. His poems are easy to read for the average person and don’t follow a strict structure or style. Instead Sandburg’s poems are more loose and free, yet strong and descriptive. No one has to be a mastermind to understand what Sandburg is telling through his

The two authors may write the same genre of articles, but they are both fairly different, in the excerpt “a Lincoln preface” the author Carl Sandburg uses a lot of dialect which makes you feel like you're in Lincoln's life as well, Sandburg quotes things that happened, or what were said. While on the other hand, in the excerpt “ Arthur Ashe Remembrance” the author John McPhee more tells the story of the Arthur's life, using things that happened while he was growing up, like his mother passing away from illness.

In the poem, “London” by William Blake and “Chicago” by Carl Sandburg, the speakers in the poem made use of several figurative languages to compliment the style of the poem and also the theme present in both poems. Vampirism is a big theme that presents itself in both poems and both speakers made sure to exploit this general theme. To begin with, the poem “Chicago”, addresses the outlook of Chicago during the period of its development. The speaker of the poem focuses on the things that Chicago is consisted of and in several ways, debunked the misconceptions about Chicago.

Carl Sandburg; a 20th century American Poet, once defined poetry as “…the opening and closing of a door, leaving those who look through to guess about what is seen during that moment.” Sandburg attempts to suggest that an experience can be expressed by a poet via the way language is used. Many writers are influenced heavily by the political, social, and environmental situations that they’ve experienced, which may need to be known to the reader to fully understand what the writer is trying to communicate through their works.

When acknowledging the turnout of Chicago’s fair, Larson uses figurative language to demonstrate the contesting forces of good and evil and to examine the extent to which Chicago stretched the fair’s potential. Larson writes, “Chicago has disappointed her enemies and astonished the world” (30). Larson uses personification when he says that “Chicago has disappointed her enemies…” and is giving Chicago a human behavior. This strategy emits a positive connotation to the reader . The use of figurative language makes the reader look at Chicago as having achieved a great honor by hosting the fair. It also shows that Chicago can create something so miraculous in a time of such hardship and need for ingenuity and amidst the evil waiting within the shadows of the White City. When describing the tension in the top floor of the Rookery while the architects were revealing their drawings for the fair, Larson writes “As the light began to fade, the architects lit the library’s gas jets, which hissed like mildly perturbed cats” (115) and he uses figurative language to help the reader grasp the importance and anticipation of this moment. By comparing the library’s gas jets to “mildly perturbed cats,” the reader gains a sense of agitation, anticipation, and the anxiety that the architects were feeling in that moment. Larson creates a negative and rather comforting connotation by using this simile to describe the room’s tension. The way that Larson describes this moment leads the reader to imagine it to be

For instance, “sheath of sleep in the black of bed” (Ln1) and “I stoop and slip back to the sheath, for the sleep I still need” (Lns 60-61). This explains that the poet has fallen fast asleep in bed in line 1 and in lines 60-61 it explains how he goes back to bed after the whole raccoon incident. Alliteration is shown to highlight “black” and “bed” in line 1 and “slip” and “still” in lines 60-61. The assonance is shown in the repetition of the “e” in “sheath” and “sleep”. Snyder shows the state of mind by creating examples of the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words and is also repeating vowel sounds in the words placed near each other. Usually in the same or adjacent

The city of Chicago is referred to as if it were a living, breathing, vibrant person. The entire poem personifies Chicago into a living entity. He describes Chicago as a human with “Big Shoulders”, “head singing”, “white teeth”, and “the heart of the people”. He is so convincing that as you read you feel like he is talking about a living "pulsing" person. In the second verse, Sandburg speaks to Chicago in a way you might discuss someones past. “They tell me you are wicked” also “They tell me you are crooked”.(SANDBUR 727) In each example sandburg agrees with Chicago’s less than perfect reputation. However the poet sees through all the roughness and sees the liveliness and excitement that existed in the city. Furthering his purpose Sandburg defends the city referring to its “lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning”(14-15). In the final stanza, Sandburg moves from personification to a simile "Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness" (18). Then, as if in a drumming cadence to make a sort of thumping emotional appeal of how he sees Chicago, Sandburg uses an astonishingly effective series of words that precisely indicates what he sees in

Although the city is portrayed to be materialistic, it is the people who have produced and shaped New York City. The people and the city are dependent on each other. If it was not for the people there would be no city. As well as if it was not for the physical being of the city, there would be no people. The speaker mentions before the man realizes he will not commit suicide, “Then the huge machinery of the earth began to work for his life,” (20). After the metal materials are mentioned, the author uses personification to describe the “machinery,” the city, to save his life. The speaker finds a deeper meaning to the city. Although the man thought this “huge machinery” was working against him the whole time, it was the people of the city who are there to save his life. Every city has is a police system and a fire station. If it was not for them the man would have gave up and died. The city saved his life.

In the early 20th century Carl Sandburg wrote a poem called “Chicago”. In this poem he opens with brutal imagery about the city Chicago by calling in a “hog” and the “butcher of the world”. Sandburg later defends the city from the hateful terms that have been expressed towards Chicago. Carl Sandburg expresses a very clear tone throughout the poem “Chicago”, the tone can be easily analyzed by evaluating how Sandberg describes the city towards the middle of the poem. Reading through the poem you can easily understand that the speaker is expressing a very proud tone.