Contemporary American Literature Part 56

+Edwin Meade Robinson+--poet, novelist.

Born at Lima, Indiana, 1879. Not related to Edwin Arlington Robinson.

Newspaper man, first on the _Indianapolis Sentinel_, later on the _Cleveland Plain Dealer_, in which he conducts a column. Besides his successful volume of verse, _Piping and Panning_, 1920, Mr. Robinson has published a novel which has attracted attention as an honest record of a growing boy, _Enter Jerry_, 1920. For reviews, see _Book Review Digest_, 1920, 1921.

+Carl Sandburg+--poet.

Born at Galesburg, Illinois, of Swedish stock. Has little schooling but wide experience of life. At thirteen drove a milk wagon, and for the next six years did all kinds of rough work--as porter in a barber shop, scene-s.h.i.+fter, truck-handler in a brickyard, turner apprentice in a pottery, dishwasher in hotels, harvest hand in Kansas.

During the Spanish-American War served as private in Porto Rico.

Studied at Lombard College, Galesburg, 1898-1902, where he was captain of the basket-ball team and editor-in-chief of the college paper.

After leaving college, earned his living in various ways--as advertising manager for a department store, salesman, newspaperman, "safety first"

expert. Worked also as district organizer for the Social-Democratic party of Wisconsin and was secretary to the mayor of Milwaukee, 1910-12.

In 1904 he had published a small pamphlet of poems, but his first real appearance before the public was in _Poetry_, 1914. In the same year he was awarded the Levinson prize for his "Chicago." In 1918 he shared with Margaret Widdemer (q.v.) the prize of the Poetry Society of America; and in 1921, shared this with Stephen Vincent Benet (q.v.).

Mr. Sandburg has a good voice and sings his poems to the accompaniment of the guitar.

SUGGESTIONS FOR READING

1. In judging Mr. Sandburg's work, it is important to remember that his theory involves complete freedom from conventions of all sorts--in thinking, in metrical form, and in vocabulary. His aim seems to be to reproduce the impressions that all phases of life make upon him.

2. Consider whether his early prairie environment had anything to do with the large scale of his imagination, the appeal to him of enormous periods of time, ma.s.ses of men, and forces.

3. Do you find elements of universality in his exaggerated localisms? Do they combine to form a definite philosophy?

4. What effect do the eccentricities and crudities of form have upon you?

Do you consider them an essential part of his poetic expression or blemishes which he may one day overcome?

5. Do you find elements of greatness in Mr. Sandburg's work? Do you think they are likely to outweigh his obvious defects?

6. Compare and contrast his democratic ideals with those of Lindsay.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Chicago Poems. 1916.

Cornhuskers. 1918.

The Chicago Race Riots. 1919.

Smoke and Steel. 1920.

Slabs of the Sunburnt West. 1922.

Rootabaga Stories. 1922. (Children's stories.)

STUDIES AND REVIEWS

Lowell.

Untermeyer.

Bookm. 47 ('18): 389 (Phelps); 52 ('21): 242, 285 (_for_ 385); 53 ('21) 389 (portrait); 54 ('21): 360.

Chapbook, 1-2, May, 1920: 15. (Fletcher.) Dial, 61 ('16): 528; 65 ('18): 263 (Untermeyer).

Liv. Age, 308 ('21): 231.

New Repub. 22 ('20): 98; 25 ('20): 86.

Poetry, 8 ('16): 90; 13 ('18): 155; 15 ('20): 271; 17 ('21): 266.

Survey, 45 ('20): 12.

+George Santayana+--poet, critic.

Born at Madrid, Spain, 1863. Came to the United States, 1872. A.B., Harvard, 1886; A.M., Ph.D., 1889. In 1889 began to teach philosophy at Harvard; professor, 1907-12.

While Mr. Santayana's chief work is in philosophy, he belongs to literature by the beauty of his poems, especially his sonnets, and by the quality of his prose.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

*Sonnets and Other Poems. 1894.

The Sense of Beauty. 1896.

Lucifer--A Theological Tragedy. 1899.

Interpretations of Poetry and Religion. 1900.

The Hermit of Carmel, and Other Poems. 1901.

The Life of Reason. 1905.

Three Philosophical Poets. 1910.

Winds of Doctrine. 1913.

Philosophical Opinion in America. 1918.

Character and Opinion in the United States. 1920.

*Little Essays. 1920. (Selected with author's collaboration, by Logan Pearsall Smith, q.v.)

STUDIES AND REVIEWS

Rittenhouse.

Acad. 79 ('10): 561.

Ath. 1913, 1: 353.

Bookm. 47 ('18): 546.

Bookm. (Lond.) 58 ('20): 208.

Critic, 42 ('03): 129.

Cur. Op. 55 ('13): 120; 69 ('20): 860. (Portraits.) Harp. W. 58 ('13): 27.

Ind. 61 ('06): 335 (portrait).

Liv. Age, 307 ('20): 50; 310 ('21): 200; 312 ('21): 300. (J. Middleton Murry.) Lond. Mer. 2 ('20): 411.

Nation, 109 ('19): 12.