Page 107 - 100 Best Loved Poems - Teaching Unit

“Chicago”
by Carl Sandburg, pages 85-86

Vocabulary
brawling – fighting noisily

1. Who or what is the speaker addressing in this poem?

The speaker is addressing the city of Chicago itself.

2. How does the speaker handle complaints about the city?

The speaker acknowledges that the complaints are valid, then goes on to counter them by
powerfully singing the city’s praises. The city’s problems do not, according to the speaker,
cancel out the city’s charms.

3. Comment briefly on the form of this poem.

Answers will vary. Example: The form is not quite that of a prose poem; although some
parts clearly resemble prose. A number of short, set-off lines make it difficult to fit the
poem neatly into any one formal category.

4. Earlier in the anthology, we encountered a poet whose long, sweeping lines and celebratory
tone clearly seem to have influenced Sandburg. Name the poet.

The poet is Walt Whitman.

“Fog”
by Carl Sandburg, page 86

Vocabulary
haunches – hips and thighs

1. Is Sandburg’s comparison of the fog to a cat a metaphor or a simile?

Sandburg’s comparison is a metaphor.

2. Why do you think Sandburg chose to leave white space between the first two lines of the
poem and the last four?

Answers may vary. Example: The white space slows the poem down and it mimics the
creeping and measured silence of the cat-like fog.

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