As a child of an immigrant couple, Carl Sandburg was barely American himself, yet the life, which he had lived, has defined key aspects of our great country, and touched the hearts and minds of her people. Sandburg grew up in the American Midwest, yet spent the majority of his life traveling throughout the states. The country, which would define his style of poetry and his views of society, government, and culture, would equally be defined by his writing, lecturing, and the American dream he lived: The dream of becoming successful with only an idea and the will to use it. Historically, Sandburg's most defining poetic element is his free verse style. His open views towards American democracy, labor, and war earned him great respect, and even greater criticism. He was considered one of America's finest poets during his lifetime; moreover, he is now renowned as one of America's greatest poets of all time (Niven 388-406).
             August, his father, on a typical hard labor job expected from an immigrant male raising a family in the early nineteen hundreds. Odd jobs helped Carl support his family when he was forced to work at the young age of thirteen. Although raised poor, Carl aspired to travel the country and it's cities. He accomplished this goal with great help from the American rail system (Niven 388-392).
             Sandburg went on to become a great and successful writer for several newspapers as well as author to many books of poetry. After brief political success, Carl left office to write for Milwaukee's paper, "The Social Democratic Herald" in 1911. Then, just a few years later, Sandburg starts work at the "Chicago Daily News"(Niven 392-393).
             After a friend, Alfred Harcourt, risked his job to get Sandburg published for the first time, Sandburg's career took off. Even despite massive criticism based only on his political views, Sandburg sold thousands of books and became highly acclaimed (Lowell, 3012-3014).
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