Knucks
In Abraham Lincoln's city,Where they remember his lawyer's shingle,The place where they brought himWrapped in battle flags,Wrapped in the smoke of memoriesFrom Tallahassee to the Yukon,The place now where the shaft of his tombPoints white against the blue prairie dome,In Abraham Lincoln's city...I saw knucksIn the window of Mister Fischman's second-hand storeOn Second Street.
I went in and asked, "How much?""Thirty cents apiece," answered Mister Fischman.And taking a box of new ones off a shelfHe filled anew the box in the showcaseAnd said incidentally, most casuallyAnd incidentally:"I sell a carload a month of these."
I slipped my fingers into a set of knucks,Cast-iron knucks molded in a foundry pattern,And there came to me a set of thoughts like these:Mister Fischman is for Abe and the "malice to none" stuff,And the street car strikers and the strike-breakers,And the sluggers, gunmen, detectives, policemen,Judges, utility heads, newspapers, priests, lawyers,They are all for Abe and the "malice to none" stuff.
I started for the door."Maybe you want a lighter pair,"Came Mister Fischman's voice.I opened the door...and the voice again:"You are a funny customer."
Wrapped in battle flags,Wrapped in the smoke of memories,This is the place they brought him,This is Abraham Lincoln's home town.
Words in this poem
- shingle n.
- Round, water-worn, and loose gravel and pebbles, or a collection of roundish stones, such as are common on the seashore and elsewhere. [Prob. from Norw. singl, singling, coarse gravel, small round stones.]
- mister n.
- A trade, art, or occupation. [OF. mistier trade, office, ministry, need, F. métier trade, fr. L. ministerium service, office, ministry. See Ministry, Mystery trade.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- apiece adv.
- Each by itself; by the single one; to each; as the share of each; as, these melons cost a shilling apiece. [Pref. a- + piece.]
- casually adv.
- Without design; accidentally; fortuitously; by chance; occasionally.
- foundry n.
- The act, process, or art of casting metals. [See Foundery.]
- maybe adv.
- Perhaps; possibly; peradventure. [For it may be.]
- funny a.
- Droll; comical; amusing; laughable. Funny bone. See crazy bone, under Crazy. [From Fun.]
- customer n.
- One who collect customs; a toll gatherer. [A doublet of customary, a.: cf. LL. custumarius toll gatherer. See Custom.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Knucks is in the public domain. This text is taken from Cornhuskers, Wikisource; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Carl Sandburg, Knucks, in Cornhuskers (1918), text of Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sandburg-cornhuskers/knucks.html, id L29054.
Form and metre
Knucks is 35 lines in 5 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 3 --ABA-AB knucks · pattern · theseA · stuffB · breakersA · policemen · lawyersA · stuffB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| In Abraham Lincoln's city, | 8 | ·/˘·/˘/˘ |
| Where they remember his lawyer's shingle, | 10 | ··˘/˘·/˘/˘ |
| The place where they brought him | 6 | ······ |
| Wrapped in battle flags, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Wrapped in the smoke of memories | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| From Tallahassee to the Yukon, | 9 | ··˘/˘··/· |
| The place now where the shaft of his tomb | 9 | ········· |
| Points white against the blue prairie dome, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| In Abraham Lincoln's city...I saw knucks | 11 | ·/˘·/˘/˘··· |
| In the window of Mister Fischman's second-hand store | 13 | ··/˘·/˘/˘/˘·· |
| On Second Street. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| I went in and asked, "How much?" | 7 | ······· |
| "Thirty cents apiece," answered Mister Fischman. | 11 | /˘·˘//˘/˘/˘ |
| And taking a box of new ones off a shelf | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| He filled anew the box in the showcase | 10 | ··˘/····/· |
| And said incidentally, most casually | 12 | ···˘/˘˘·/˘˘˘ |
| And incidentally: | 6 | ··˘/˘˘ |
| "I sell a carload a month of these." | 9 | ···/····· |
| I slipped my fingers into a set of knucks, | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Cast-iron knucks molded in a foundry pattern, | 12 | ·/˘·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| And there came to me a set of thoughts like these: | 11 | ··········· |
| Mister Fischman is for Abe and the "malice to none" stuff, | 14 | /˘/˘·····/˘··· |
| And the street car strikers and the strike-breakers, | 11 | ····/˘···/˘ |
| And the sluggers, gunmen, detectives, policemen, | 12 | ··/˘/·˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Judges, utility heads, newspapers, priests, lawyers, | 13 | /˘˘/˘˘·/·˘·/˘ |
| They are all for Abe and the "malice to none" stuff. | 12 | ·······/˘··· |
| I started for the door. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| "Maybe you want a lighter pair," | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Came Mister Fischman's voice. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| I opened the door...and the voice again: | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| "You are a funny customer." | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Wrapped in battle flags, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Wrapped in the smoke of memories, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| This is the place they brought him, | 7 | ······· |
| This is Abraham Lincoln's home town. | 9 | ··/˘·/˘·· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.