Poets | Members | Poem of the Day | Top 40 | Search | Comments | Privacy
May 14th, 2008 - we have 237 poets, 8036 poems and 17472 comments.
Carl Sandburg - The Harbor

PASSING through huddled and ugly walls
By doorways where women
Looked from their hunger-deep eyes,
Haunted with shadows of hunger-hands,
Out from the huddled and ugly walls,
I came sudden, at the city's edge,
On a blue burst of lake,
Long lake waves breaking under the sun
On a spray-flung curve of shore;
And a fluttering storm of gulls,
Masses of great gray wings
And flying white bellies
Veering and wheeling free in the open

Added: on May 17th, 2005 at 10:40 PM | Viewed: 8339 times | Comments and analysis of The Harbor by Carl Sandburg Comments (4)


The Harbor - Comments and Information

Poet: Carl Sandburg
Poem: 5. The Harbor
Volume: Chicago Poems
- Chicago Poems
Year: Published/Written in 1912
Poem of the Day: Oct 28 2004

Comment 4 of 4, added on March 23rd, 2006 at 1:30 PM.

g'day mates. what a wonderful poem. it really does bring out his work.

Steve Adrianes from Australia
Comment 3 of 4, added on July 3rd, 2005 at 7:10 PM.

The contrast of the city to the shore is exquisite. One underlying meaning one may extricate from the poem is that of one who has has his share of lovers, all of which left him unsatisfied. Yet the shore, and its image of gleaming beauty and youth gives the idea of a new love, one with meaning. The blue lake appears to serve as a symbol for hope and rebirth in the sexual awareness of the poet.

Stephanie from United States
Comment 2 of 4, added on May 17th, 2005 at 10:40 PM.

a very beautiful poem. at first i thought it was about people being enslaved or just imprisoned and were hungry, but i asked my english teacher about it and then thought about it again. it's just a moment in his life. he's seeing the harbor and the water and takes us through the images as he sees them. he contrasts the bleak, dark city with the bright and lively harbor. there's no real message of this poem, it's just images in chicago as he sees them.

natalie deleon from United States

Are you looking for more information on this poem? Perhaps you are trying to analyze it? The poem, The Harbor, has received 4 comments. Click here to read them, and perhaps post a comment of your own. Of course you can also always discuss poems by Carl Sandburg with others on the American Poems poetry forum!

Poem Info

Sandburg Info
Copyright © 2000-2008 Gunnar Bengtsson. All Rights Reserved. Links | Bookstore