• The Early Poetry of Carl Sandburg: Cornhuskers

  • By: Carl Sandburg
  • Narrated by: Robert Bethune
  • Length: 2 hrs and 13 mins
  • 5.0 out of 5 stars (2 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
The Early Poetry of Carl Sandburg: Cornhuskers  By  cover art

The Early Poetry of Carl Sandburg: Cornhuskers

By: Carl Sandburg
Narrated by: Robert Bethune
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $13.22

Buy for $13.22

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

A note to the listener: this book was written in 1918 and uses the common language of that time. That includes frequent instances of the use of words referring to African-Americans and people of Central European ancestry that are today unacceptable. We do well to listen to the way even our great poets once spoke, so that we do not forget that we once spoke that way.

Carl Sandburg fixed his eyes on the people of his time and place. He ignored or scorned the wealthy, the comfortable, the complacent, the powerful and those who serve them; he had no time for the ruling class. His eyes were open to the immigrant, the laborer, the hobo, the farmer, the man who works with his hands, the woman who runs a family, the soldier who goes to war for them. Not for him the Man of the Masses from a left-wing poster, ruddy and muscular; he knew the reality of the laborer - the bad food, the burden of disease, the crushed mind. He saw his people and he saw them plain.

He saw them against the background of war. World War I was taking the sons of his people and sending them across an ocean to fight - for what? He ends his book with a vivid vision of the Four Brothers - America, England, France and Russia - marching heroically against the Kaiser, but he gets there only after unflinchingly fixing his eyes upon the horrors of war, the trench running wth blood, the mutilated soldier gasping for water.

He saw them against an economy that pitted the have-nots against the haves, a government rife with corruption, a society built to look the other way.

Most of all, he saw them part of a world that is fundamentally a world of beauty, a world that could have humanity as part of that beauty, if only humankind could find its way back to its own nature.Enjoy his unique voice, his special vision, his gift for the natural language of his time and place, and his skill with that language.

Public Domain (P)2011 Robert Bethune

What listeners say about The Early Poetry of Carl Sandburg: Cornhuskers

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.