In the Comments section below, please post a response of at least one full paragraph (min. 5 sentences). Your assignment is twofold: 1) you are to demonstrate a clear understanding of the text by attempting to summarize the text's argument as precisely as possible, and 2) you are to use your comment to ask the text (or ask your peers) at least one thoughtful question.
Remember: your comment can respond directly to other students' posts on this text. The goal of this forum is to offer an opportunity for intelligent dialogue related to the works we are studying in class. Respectful debate is always welcome.
I actually liked this poem for a change. It's not that I don't like poetry, it's just the poems that we read are usually too confusing for me to understand, and kinda weird. I really like that Carl Sandburg tells it like it is. He's completely aware of all the terrible things about the city, and admits they are all true. The speaker is not ashamed of Chicago, in fact it seems as though he likes the city because of those things. He makes a good point when he says "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 cunning." Being in full knowledge of the flaws of the city, the speaker totally shuts down any one who protests because he knows they will be unable to answer his question. It's so true though because no man is without sin, and therefore no city can be without sin either. The quirky ordinary and everyday people bring character to the city of Chicago. It's the people living in a city that molds the city to what it is, and if you liked the people you're just going to have to accept things for how they are, bad or good. My only question has to do with all the capital letters. Clearly Sandburg is trying to communicate something or else his grammar would not look like that, but why are they like that is what I want to know.
ReplyDeleteI like how the poem starts out with all the negative aspects of Chicago that most people see. Sandburg uses, "they tell me," and then turns it around with "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:..." He proceeds to list all of the things that he loves about his city. The thing that makes this poem so great is the tone of pride that Sandburg communicates. He is saying "yes, Chicago has its flaws, but it is my home and I am proud to call it that."
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