My City and Chicago
Poets of the XX century in United States of America express their feelings and thoughts in their poems. Each writer has his own style. To give a poem their style they use a unique way of treating theme, structure and tone. Thanks to these elements, readers can compare and contrast similar poems. “Chicago” by Carl Sandburg and “My city” by James Weldon Johnson are two poems that are similar, but in their own way different. These poems are similar in the fact that they both talk about the proud the feeling for their cities; their theme and tone are similar, but they differ in structure.
The themes by Sandburg and Johnson have a similarity, both are dual in nature, they describe the positive and negative sides of their cities. They love it, and they think there is no other city that could be better than theirs. In Sandburg’s poem “Chicago” the author expresses that Chicago is the best city ever. He is proud of it. “Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive-” (826). The writer describes his city with perfection; he personifies the city as a proud man. In Johnson’s sonnet “My city” like Sandburg, he describes Manhattan, New York city as a beautiful and unique place, with freedom, and opportunities “No, I am sure it will be none of these… To be dead, and never again behold my city!”(941). With these quotes readers can see that Sandburg and Johnson are proud of their cities.
A contrasting element between both poems is the structure; the way a poem is organized and how writers project their poems to give a special or unique style. In “My City”, Johnson`s structure is very simple and clear. The structure his poem has is called sonnet; that is a poem of 14 lines, divided in two parts, the first stanza has eight lines and the second has six. The rhyme of the first stanza is ABBACCDD, and the second`s is ABABCC. Its rhyme is very clear. In the octet, he is questioning himself if he will miss Manhattan when he is gone, and in the next stanza
The themes by Sandburg and Johnson have a similarity, both are dual in nature, they describe the positive and negative sides of their cities. They love it, and they think there is no other city that could be better than theirs. In Sandburg’s poem “Chicago” the author expresses that Chicago is the best city ever. He is proud of it. “Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive-” (826). The writer describes his city with perfection; he personifies the city as a proud man. In Johnson’s sonnet “My city” like Sandburg, he describes Manhattan, New York city as a beautiful and unique place, with freedom, and opportunities “No, I am sure it will be none of these… To be dead, and never again behold my city!”(941). With these quotes readers can see that Sandburg and Johnson are proud of their cities.
A contrasting element between both poems is the structure; the way a poem is organized and how writers project their poems to give a special or unique style. In “My City”, Johnson`s structure is very simple and clear. The structure his poem has is called sonnet; that is a poem of 14 lines, divided in two parts, the first stanza has eight lines and the second has six. The rhyme of the first stanza is ABBACCDD, and the second`s is ABABCC. Its rhyme is very clear. In the octet, he is questioning himself if he will miss Manhattan when he is gone, and in the next stanza
Bibliography: Weldon Johnson, James. “My city”. New York. 1930. Sandburg, Carl. “Chicago”. Chicago. 1925.