THE fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Analysis, meaning and summary of Carl Sandburg's poem Fog

14 Comments

  1. Russ says:

    Is there anyone who has ever read this poem, that from that first moment and for the rest of their lives does not involuntarily think of cats and Carl Sandburg when they encounter fog? Or indeed start to recite it to themselves silently?

  2. Roberta Boune says:

    You know, we all tend to analyze things to death. Not being an intimate of Carl Sandburg, I can’t say what he was thinking when he wrote it. However, as a writer, I believe his thought could have been as basic and spare as the haiku form it emulates. “Fog moves like cat.” Only how much more evocative are the words and placement of those words in Carl’s poem. The talent of an artist.

  3. carly- ann says:

    carl is werid
    there is this picture of him writing on a typewriter
    he looks like he’s playin g an instrument and has that whole julia robert’s brother thing going for him- which isn’t a good thing to have going
    THIS POEM IS…CATTY

  4. Jay River says:

    I believe that this poem is referring to the difficult situations that we as humans cannot see through, like we cannot see through ‘fog’. These situations, sometimes sneak up on us like ‘little cat feet’. The situation hangs over our heads, ‘it sits looking’. But, eventually, ‘moves on’.

  5. Alexa Love says:

    I memorized this poem this year
    it is a great poem with ggreat metaphores!
    i love it

  6. Jack Murphy says:

    In elementery school, the nuns would have your come to the front of the class and recite a poem you had memorized. Fog was the shortest one I could find, since I didn’t like being up at the front of the class.
    The nun didn’t fall for my tactic and made me do another. Oh, well, I tried. To this day, I am still a cat lover.

  7. Sgt. Matthew Kaye says:

    I had to memorize this poem in 8th grade, and i still have not forgotten it. HOOAH!

  8. spike says:

    this poem really touches me i love how he personificates the fog to a living creature (cat)

  9. David says:

    Cat – silent – here now; present, changes our surroundings, indifferent, leaves without a trace

  10. Vrinda Krishna says:

    It is a beauty to see the poet compare rather personify fog to a cat.
    The immediate feeling that one gets at the very utterance of the word ‘fog’ is lack of definitude and opacity. But the personificatio of fog to a cat gives it a new dimension, aesthetics…???
    Although it envelopes vast area, from harbor to the city, yet it does not come with a fanfare as flood or tsunami would. It comes silently “on cat feet”.
    Like a true feline it is “aloof” and “unsocial” (coldness of heart???). it silently watches the area under its spell and moves on further.
    Does it in anyway suggest of coldness in human relationships? Response will be appreciated

  11. Carmen Parrott says:

    Growing up in the Virgin Islands We don’t have much fog. So as a child reading the FOG, as simple as it is, gave me a vision of fog acting like a cat of which i had several.

  12. yasir jaffery says:

    The poet has presetnted fog as a living creature, comes,sits looking and then moves on.

  13. Arnold Russell says:

    “Little cat feet” immediately gives the fog a personality it is easy to imagine standing on the pier watching the fog come in then move on into the city.Very frugal with the wording unlike other Sandburg poems.

  14. Jill Pritts says:

    At first it just is a couple of words but if you read it again it will really make you think.

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