Carl Sandburg and Lincoln

[Rob Wick]

Bill,

I think pretty well most of the quotes attributed to Sandburg were actually said by him.

One of the things I plan to study in my book will be why Sandburg fell out of favor, which I think is the biggest reason for the lack of knowledge about him today. From a poetic standpoint, Sandburg was always looked upon by his harshest critics as a regionalist and not deserving of a national reputation. I'm not a literary critic and I don't know a lot of literary theory, but his reputation as a poet was already flagging in the 1920s. I've always believed that was one reason he started turning to prose. Not that he was giving in to the literati, but that he personally wanted to expand his horizons. He continued to write poetry even after The Prairie Years came out. In many ways, though, The People, Yes was just another homage to Lincoln and what he meant to the common man. I think literary flavors change, and given the strikes that Sandburg had against him, and the revolution which occurred in historical studies in the 1960s, I really think it was inevitable that Sandburg would lose favor in the modern world.

As for the questions surrounding the study of history, I never cared for memorization. Sometimes I feel a little bad when someone can recite poetry or documents from memory. But I think as a throwback to my newspaper career, I much prefer the ability to take a document, analyze it, and try to provide a reasonable and coherent interpretation of what it means. To me, education's main purpose is to provide someone with the ability to think critically, and to make their own decision based on their understanding of the facts. I'm not saying that people shouldn't know things for their own sake, but rote memorization was more in favor during a time when promoting nationalism through the study of history held sway. I've always believed that the study of American history, warts and all, is far more important than using it to develop blind patriotism. Once a person gets all sides of the story, and has the ability to process that information in a critical and analytical manner, I think a natural outgrowth of that will be developing a love for one's country.

I think for many historians in the 1960s, Sandburg represented the nationalistic school of history, along with Allan Nevins, J.G. Randall and others. I think one of the reason that Nevins, et al embraced Sandburg as they did was that they all pretty well had the same outlook on what it meant to be an American and what one could take away from those of the past. Of course, it's far deeper than that, but it's too close to supper for me to get really analytical.

Best
Rob