Carl Sandburg

Most people first recognize him for his brief imagist poems such as "Fog" and for the famous opening of "Chicago," which describes the city as the "hog butcher for the world." In addition to his poetry, he's also celebrated for his six-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln, which earned him a Pulitzer Prize for History.

Three. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry two times — first in 1919 for "Corn Huskers" and again in 1951 for his "Complete Poems" — and he also received the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1940 for his biography of Lincoln.

He primarily wrote in free verse, taking his rhythms from the everyday speech of Americans instead of sticking to traditional meters. His language is straightforward and unembellished, often focusing on industrial or working-class themes. He doesn’t hesitate to mention actual places, real jobs, and the gritty details of life. When you read his work, it feels more like a conversation than a performance.

Yes, without a doubt. Early in his career, he was an organizer for the Social Democratic Party in Milwaukee. His genuine concern for labor and the working poor is a consistent theme in his poetry — it's not just an act but a viewpoint shaped by his own upbringing and the jobs he took on as a young man.

"Grass" is a brief, haunting poem narrated from the perspective of grass, which pleads for permission to carry out its role — hiding the remains of those lost in battles such as Austerlitz, Waterloo, Gettysburg, and Ypres. The message reveals how nature silently wipes away the traces of human violence, while humanity moves on and forgets. It's one of the most succinct antiwar poems in the English language.

He accomplished a lot. He worked as a newspaper journalist for years, wrote an extensive biography of Lincoln, published a collection of American folk songs titled "The American Songbag," and created the Rootabaga Stories—a whimsical series of children's tales set in a fictional American heartland. He also shared folk songs publicly throughout his life, often playing guitar during readings.

He's a staple in American school curricula, especially with poems like "Fog" and "Chicago," although literary critics have had mixed opinions about him over the years. Some argue that his work can be too populist or inconsistent. However, readers who approach his poetry without being swayed by criticism often discover that much of it resonates — particularly the shorter pieces and his war poems.

He grew up in Galesburg, Illinois, in a Swedish immigrant family where money was always tight. At thirteen, he left school to start working and spent years doing manual labor throughout the Midwest before discovering his passion for writing. This background provided him with a unique understanding of working-class life that many poets of his time lacked, which is evident in the depth and themes of his work.