Chicago Literary Analysis

516 Words3 Pages
Michael Hong Confusion The poem “Chicago” by Carl Sandburg is not the easiest poem to depict or understand the first time it is read. From the very first word to the very last, this poem is really confusing, it will make it so that it has to be read more than once in order to somewhat understand it. What I don’t understand is why Carl Sandburg chooses to talk bad about Chicago in the first half of the poem and then says he is proud to be living in Chicago towards the end of the poem. Another thing I don’t understand is why he makes it seem like the things from lines 6-11 only happen in Chicago, things like that happen everywhere else as well. Maybe it is because the events in Chicago are a lot worse than any other city. According to Anti Essays, the main purpose of this poem is to defend the common theories that are directed toward the city of Chicago. This makes sense because the speaker addresses the corruption of the city in lines 6-11, and he also points out the flaws of other cities by saying “Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to / be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.” (14-15) When Sandburg says this, he is saying that regardless of all the negative things about Chicago, it is still full of good people and he is proud of that. Why Carl Sandburg probably talks bad about Chicago in the beginning but says he is proud to be a part of it at the end is because in his eyes there is no other city like Chicago, whether it is in a good way or a bad way. He talks about how the people of Chicago brag and laugh together which shows that the people in the city have a strong relationship with one another. However he mainly talks about the bad things because that is probably the only things worth talking about. It could also have to do with his pride where even though he knows that Chicago is a bad city he is still proud to be a part
Open Document