The America of Carl Sandburg

The America of Carl Sandburg tells of the effect of the American tradition on the poet and of his impact upon America. It is a study in depth, showing the unconscious Scandinavian influences, the conscious French influences, and the effect on Sandburg's writings, both poetry and prose, of Lincoln, Emerson, Emily Dickinson, and, of course, Whitman. The author develops a clear picture of Sandburg's place in American literature by comparison and contrast with other major contemporaries and delineates the emergence of the Sandburg image abroad.