Influences on 20th Century literature, part 2

Click here to go back to Part 1



When Sandburg writes about fog, he describes a cat.  I cannot look at fog ever again wihtout thinking about this poem.  He was clearly influenced by the Symbolists, who want to describe the inner feelings of people.  As we read in the beginning of this section, Baudelaire was trying to write poetry that was more personal.  Carl Sandburg appears to be influenced by this literary trend. 

This image shows how some
people agree that  fog has cat feet.

Carl Sandburg captured the imagination of the public.  Look at this poster with a car and fog.



The poem is short and to the point and it focuses on feelings.  

Sandburg was born in 1978, so he was           36 years old 

The poem was published                                                                                           

This poem was published in 1916 so the Titanic was probably an influence (the ship sank in part because of the fog around the ship).  The ship sank four years before the publishing date of the poem.


Gerald Brantley

Influences on 20th Century Literature

This is my Web 2.0 presentation.                     

I selected two poems:
a) Rhapsody on a Windy Night by T.S. Eliot
b) Fog by Carl Sandburg

I will be writing about some events that influenced these poems.

When T.S. Eliot wrote "Rhapsody," it was probably during and after  World War I.  That must have been one of the important events that influenced the poet.  

This poem was published in 1920. 

When the poet wrote about the child who "gripped the end of a stick" he might have been talking about child labor.   That was an important issue for the progressive era.  



Go to part 2  (click here)


http://preview.tinyurl.com/gerald1000