Jazz Fantasia - A poem by Carl Sandburg

Carl Sandburg - Jazz Fantasia

DRUM on your drums, batter on your banjoes, sob on the long cool winding saxophones. Go to it, O jazzmen.
  
Sling your knuckles on the bottoms of the happy tin pans, let your trombones ooze, and go hushahusha-hush with the slippery
sand-paper.
  
Moan like an autumn wind high in the lonesome tree-tops, moan soft like you wanted somebody terrible, cry like a racing car
slipping away from a motorcycle cop, bang-bang! you jazzmen, bang altogether drums, traps, banjoes, horns, tin
cans—make two people fight on the top of a stairway and scratch each other’s eyes in a clinch tumbling down the
stairs.
  
Can the rough stuff … now a Mississippi steamboat pushes up the night river with a hoo-hoo-hoo-oo … and the green
lanterns calling to the high soft stars … a red moon rides on the humps of the low river hills … go to it, O
jazzmen.

Added: on February 29th, 2008 at 3:22 PM | Viewed: 13792 times | Comments and analysis of Jazz Fantasia by Carl Sandburg Comments (9)

Jazz Fantasia - Comments and Information
Poet: Carl Sandburg (Carl Sandburg Art) Poem: 6. Jazz Fantasia Volume: Smoke and Steel - III. Broken-Face Gargoyles Year: Published/Written in 1922 Poem of the Day: Mar 19 2005 Comment 9 of 9, added on October 18th, 2009 at 11:58 PM. This poem is very intense. Like Jazz, the poem has a rhythm. I believe it starts out hard "drumming and battering" with onomatopoeia to show different sounds that each "instruments" such as sand paper and banjos make. Then, there is a tone shift from "Moan like..." The tone becomes mournful from happy and excited. Then it becomes aggressive, "make two people fight". The rhythm of the poem is fast, furious, and moves with urgency just like improvisational jazz. From "Can the rough stuff", the tone comes back but the end stanza shows loneliness and mysterious beauty of "a red moon rides on the humps...go to it, jazzmen". Chrissy from Korea, South Comment 8 of 9, added on March 23rd, 2008 at 2:32 PM. i like america. jazz fantasia is america. Miter Banisderty from Zimbabwe Comment 7 of 9, added on February 29th, 2008 at 3:22 PM. As a teacher, I used this poem as an example of the way poets use "sound" words such as crash and bang. The poem, when read emphasizing the sounds, gives the rhythms and 'noises' of words imitating a jazz band creating the clashing sounds of civilization. My favorite word is "horns." The resonance of the voice takes on the meaning of a musical instrument producing the sound of an automobile. We read it aloud and divide the class into two pitches when me come to that word (like 'oogah'). But I think "Go to it O jazzmen means to the poet--"Do your creative thing." It will mean something different to each reader as we bring our own experiences to the reading of any poem. John Rhoades from United States More Comments >> Are you looking for more information on this poem? Perhaps you are trying to analyze it? The poem, Jazz Fantasia, has received 9 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
Poet: Carl Sandburg Poem: 6. Jazz Fantasia Volume: Smoke and Steel - III. Broken-Face Gargoyles Year: Published/Written in 1922 Last read: Dec 21 2009, 1:09AM Poem of the Day: Mar 19 2005 Viewed 13792 times. Added on February 29th, 2008 at 3:22 PM.

Sandburg Info
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