Political tendencies in Carl Sandburg’s poetry

• Thesis title in Czech: Politické tendence v poezii Carla Sandburga
• Thesis title in English: Political tendencies in Carl Sandburg’s poetry
• Key words: Carl Sandburg|poezie 20. století|politická poezie|politika|propaganda|patriotismus|Sociální demokracie|New Deal
• English key words: Carl Sandburg|20th-century poetry|political poetry|politics|propaganda|patriotism|Social-Democracy|New Deal
• Academic year of topic announcement: 2018/2019
• Thesis type: Bachelor's thesis
• Thesis language: angličtina
• Department: Department of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures (21-UALK)
• Supervisor: doc. Justin Quinn, Ph.D.
• Author: hidden - assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept.
• Date of registration: 13.05.2019
• Date of assignment: 13.05.2019
• Administrator's approval: not processed yet
• Confirmed by Study dept. on: 20.05.2019
• Date and time of defence: 05.09.2019 08:30
• Date of electronic submission: 14.08.2019
• Date of proceeded defence: 05.09.2019
• Submitted/finalized: committed by student and finalized
• Opponents: Stephan Delbos, M.F.A., Ph.D.

Guidelines

Behind the poetry of Carl Sandburg, a poet often underestimated and perceived as insignificant, hides a strong political voice that raises various questions due to its directness and straightforwardness with focus on plain style and everyday imagery. Though on the first glance, Sandburg’s poetry may seem transparent and frank, critics debate over his true intent. On that account, it is necessary not to disregard his personal life and political beliefs in the analysis of his work for it had a significant impact on his work. The aim of this thesis is to analyze Carl Sandburg’s poetry during the period of the 1920s and 1930s and describe the influence and reflection of his political views on his work.
His political life provides rather a colorful picture. In his early adult life, Sandburg became a member of a social democratic party. During his life as a journalist, he paid attention to the injustice inflicted on working-class men, women and even children, and he was concerned about their insufficient working conditions. Apart from contributing to socialist newspapers International Socialist Review, he was also working on political campaigns of socialist leaders.
In his essay “You and Your Job”, he stated that “one reason I’m a Socialist is because the Socialists were the first to fight to abolish child labor, and today the Socialist party is the only one that has dared to declare in its platform that it is unalterably opposed to child labor and that it will do all in its power to remove all conditions that make it possible for human beings anywhere to be underfed and overworked”[1]. His socialist ideology, however, took a more radical turn, when supporting Russian Bolshevik Communist program. This favor towards Communist ideology caused him being surveilled by the state security services. Careful study of his FBI file shows that after his arrival to New York from Sweden in late 1918, Sandburg was interrogated by army intelligence who accused him of importing Bolshevik propagandist literature and funds to a Finnish Communist group in the US, and he himself did not reject such accusations.
Later, while writing a biography of Abraham Lincoln, Sandburg became a supporter of the New Deal and President Roosevelt in contrast to the opposing Socialist Party. His new enthusiastic and patriotic view was even reflected in his work, which included various folk songs, once again showing Sandburg’s changeable identity.
The contrast between “radical or even propagandist” Sandburg and “patriotic” Sandburg in his poetry is most visible during the period of the 1920s and 1930s. Through analysis of selected poems of this period with reference to Sandburg’s biographical features, the objective is to discuss the differences between Sandburg’s two identities, comment on the political aspects that formed them and determine whether his poetry is considered rather patriotic or propagandist.
[1] Carl Sandburg, You and your job (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Company, 1908) 12.

References

Seznam odborné literatury:
Allen, Gay Wilson. “Carl Sandburg.” Pamphlets on American Writers. Vol. 7. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1972.
Moss, Walter G. “The Wisdom of Carl and Paula Sandburg”. 2009. Academia.edu.
Murphy, James F. The Proletarian Moment: The Controversy over Leftism in Literature. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1991.
Nelson, Cary. Revolutionary memory : recovering the poetry of the American left. New York: Routledge, 2001. Print.
Sandburg, Carl. and Mitgang, Herbert. The letters of Carl Sandburg. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1968.
Sandburg, Charles. You and your job. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Company, 1908.
Van Wienen, Mark. “Taming the Socialist: Carl Sandburg's Chicago Poems and Its Critics.” American Literature, vol. 63, no. 1, 1991, pp. 89–103. JSTOR.
Yannella, Philip R. The Other Carl Sandburg. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 1996.
Yatron, Michael. America's Literary Revolt. New York: Philosophical Library. 1959.
Zehnpfennig, Gladys. Carl Sandburg, Poet and Patriot. T.S. Denison, 1963. Print.