In 1914, a man named Carl Sandburg, born in 1878, wrote the poem entitled "Chicago". When it was written, this became one of the most important poems of the first half of the century. Even though the author was not originally from the city of Chicago, but from Galesburg, Illinois, he managed live there long enough to obtain a great sense of pride and honor from being there and to write the poem with its title. He uses his poem to explain the feelings he has about the city and its people.
             In Sandburg's poem, he is telling about his beloved city of Chicago. Even though there were both positive and negative traits that he saw in the city, he really shows how very proud of Chicago that he actually was. Sandburg recognizes the weaknesses of the city and he knows that others recognize then too. He also knows that people tend to see negativity and continue to focus on it without even reaching to good things. So in his poem, the author's basic intention is to defend the city against its critics. He tries to convince people that once you look past everything that is not necessarily the way it should be, the city of Chicago has many wonderful things about it.
             There are several ways in which the author tries to accomplish his goal in this poem. He first begins by listing a few of the negative traits of the city. He uses repetition with the phrase "they tell me you are" (L.6, 7, 8). The "they" represents the city's critics that always see only negative. "And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to kill again" (L.7). The author is saying that Chicago is a city of murder, and that the murderer is very rarely ever punished for his crime. "And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the faces of women and children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger" (L.8). There must be a great deal of poverty and homelessness in this city, according to the ...