What Is The Mood Of The Poem Chicago

During the publication of “Chicago” by Carl Sandburg, Chicago was the largest city in the Midwest which established itself as an industrial metropolis with a population that doubled every twenty years. However, the city’s accomplishments were often hidden behind its rising crime rates and poor working conditions. In the poem “Chicago,” Carl Sandburg aims to defend the greatness of Chicago through images of the city throughout each part of the poem. Sandburg introduces “Chicago” by simply providing a concise description of the city as a bustling and laborious. He opens with a list of different industries the city is known for, such as “Hog Butcher for the World,” “Tool Maker,” “Stacker of Wheat,” and “Player with Railroads.” By diving right

The shift is first present when Sandburg turns to “sneer” at those “who sneer at this my city,” to show the narrator as taking a fighting stance, preparing for his side of the argument. Sandburg then begins describing the greatness of Chicago by challenging the audience to “show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive.” By describing this, Sandburg personifies the city to represent how the residents of Chicago live with “lifted heads” despite the earlier description of the city’s corruption. Yet, the narrator is shown more in taking the defensive in the argument by requesting his audience to, again, compare Chicago to another city. And with the descriptions of the city as “Flinging magnetic curses,” “laughing as a young man laughs,” and “Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle,” Sandburg personifies the city as young and immature. Not only does Sandburg specifically describes Chicago as “a young man,” but he relies upon the audience’s knowledge that it is more likely for a younger person to “Fling magnetic curses” than an elderly person. Also, he relies on the knowledge that mature people more commonly use a larger variety of language and do not often let swears fly off their tongues. Plus, “an ignorant fighter” “who has never lost a battle” has never had the time to gain the maturity and knowledge of accepting defeat, which, again, hints to the city as being young. Sandburg contributes more to the personification as Chicago being a young man through the descriptions of it as “a tall bold slugger” and “dust all over his mouth, laughing with white teeth.” But through these descriptions, he establishes a more vivid image as the young man’s personality as hardworking and never accepting defeat. Based upon the industries described earlier in the poem, many of the