The great American poet's essential collection spanning fifty years of verse—with an introduction by Mark Van Doren. With major contributions in the realms of journalism, biography and children's fiction, Carl Sandburg was a luminary of twentieth-century American literature. But he was first a foremost a poet who transformed the diversity of his experience into powerfully vivid and beloved verse. His many collections won numerous accolades, including two Pulitzer Prizes. This selection of Sandburg's poems is culled from half a century of output and includes thirteen poems appearing in book form for the first time. As this collection so masterfully demonstrates, "[Sandburg's poetry] is independent, honest, direct, lyric, and it endures, clamorous and muted, magical as life itself" ( New York Times).
