Before this book I had read a few of Carl Sandburg's poems and always liked them. Most of my favorite poems were in this book and several more that I liked. Unfortunately, I can't say that I liked the book. Poetry is a special way of using language. A good poet can take just a very few words and tell a story or convey a feeling. William Carlos Williams is one of my favorite poets. He uses language that has some emotional edge to create vivid images. In my opinion Sandburg's poems lacked vitality. His phrases trudge along to a predictable destination. Of course I never won a Pulitzer prize for poetry and Carl Sandburg did in 1951 for Collected Poems
I kept looking all through the book but I never found very many new poems that I enjoyed. ( )