Carl Sandburg and Lincoln

[Rob Wick]

Bill,

I suppose you meant for me to answer. I think it depends on which Sandburg you want to see. The Sandburg who wrote The Prairie Years in 1926 was the poet seeking the folk hero that he had been introduced to as a young boy in Galesburg, Illinois. He once told James G. Randall that he had wanted to write a book that he would have wanted to read when he was delivering milk in Galesburg as a boy.

The Sandburg who wrote The War Years was a man chastened by his experiences with Wilma Minor and her spurious letters that the Atlantic Monthly printed, with his imprimatur. He also was influenced by such friends as Paul Angle and Oliver Barrett. He turned more to documentary evidence in these four volumes.

Finally, the Sandburg who combined the six-volume set was a man nearing 80 who had become a celebrity and was more amenable to the help of academic historians who remained in his corner throughout his life. One in particular, Harry E. Pratt, along with his wife Marion Dolores Pratt, received "top billing" in the dedication page of the single-volume distillation. Sandburg called them "a handsome team of Lincoln scholars, who gave time and care to the new manuscript of the Prairie Years, wherefore the author is responsible for possibile inaccuracies or errors." Harry Pratt, from 1926 up to his death in 1956, worked with Sandburg to correct the errors that so many people found offensive.

I argue, however, there are more Sandburgs which one must contend with. There is Sandburg the poet, who used his lyric language to paint word pictures (both poetic and prose-laden) heavily influenced by a love for Walt Whitman. There is the celluloid Sandburg, asked by D.W Griffith to consult on his movie about Lincoln (which Sandburg declined to do). There is the Sandburg who also wrote about Mary Todd Lincoln and other Lincoln-related items and also influenced Ruth Painter Randall's biography of MTL when he told her to write it as a woman.

Finally, there is Sandburg the celebrity. Sandburg's celebrity probably brought a number of people to study Lincoln, especially when he appeared every February 12 telling American citizens and citizens of the world, why they should continue to revere the life of a man who died for the original sin of slavery. Sandburg's celebrity brought him calls to go around the country and talk of Lincoln and what he meant to America. I would argue that from 1939 (when The War Years came out) to his death in 1967, when people thought of Lincoln, they naturally thought of Sandburg. Both men were of the prairie, both were sensitive souls who loved poetry and both used words magically and with great effect.

Some academics disliked Sandburg for a myriad of reasons. One reason would be jealousy. Sandburg received the meed of popular approval and, as I said earlier, became to most people the authority on Lincoln. Much of what he wrote was wrong, although I argue that many of the mistakes he made were insignificant in type, although great in number. Some were questions of interpretation. One of the things I want to do in my book is to comb the six volumes and see just what type of mistakes were made. Sandburg never saw his book as straight-laced history. He was a poet using history as a tool, i.e., to bring alive a man he had wished he knew, and in many ways, did know, because of their ties to the regions where they lived.

I would say that it really hasn't fallen out of favor. I said at one point that many people view Sandburg as a relic and not a resource, but I still think if you mention Lincoln and Sandburg, you would get a knowing glance from the person you're speaking to. Many may not read Sandburg today, but many still know who he is. As to other reasons why it has fallen from grace, you'll have to read my book, once I get it written.

Best
Rob