Carl Sandburg was born in Galesburg, Illinois on January 6, 1878. He worked as a milkman, porter, stagehand, brick master, dishwasher, house painter, carpenter and a newspaper reporter.
He earned a Pulitzer Prize for history in 1940 for his biography of Lincoln. He also read his poems, sang folk ballads and told anecdotes about Lincoln on the national television. Basically, he believed in the wisdom of the common man and made the virtues of the ordinary man the theme of his poetry. Sandburg’s poetry expresses the emotion and earthy nature of Americans, finding both soft and harsh beauty among the American people. Sandburg died on July 22, 1967 at his house in North Carolina and on October 1, 1967 his ashes were buried beneath “Remembrance Rock” at his birthplace in Galesburg Illinois.
Carl Sandburg’s poem, “The Little Girl Saw Her First Troop Parade”, dramatically exposes the bitter reality of war though the innocent perspective of a young girl.
