Legends
Five circus clowns dying this year, morning newspapers told their lives, how each one horizontal in a last gesture of hands arranged by an undertaker, shook thousands into convulsions of laughter from behind rouge-red lips and powder-white face.
When the boilers of the Robert E. Lee exploded, a steamboat winner of many races on the Mississippi went to the bottom of the river and never again saw the wharves of Natchez and New Orleans.And a legend lives on that two gamblers were blown toward the sky and during their journey laid bets on which of the two would go higher and which would be first to set foot on the turf of the earth again.
When the mysterious foot and mouth epidemic ravaged the cattle of Illinois, Mrs. Hector Smith wept bitterly over the government killing forty of her soft-eyed Jersey cows; through the newspapers she wept over her loss for millions of readers in the Great Northwest.
The lady who has had seven lawful husbands has written seven years for a famous newspaper telling how to find love and keep it: seven thousand hungry girls in the Mississippi Valley have read the instructions seven years and found neither illicit loves nor lawful husbands.
I who saw ten strong young men die anonymously, I who saw ten old mothers hand over their sons to the nation anonymously, I who saw ten thousand touch the sunlit silver finalities of undistinguished human glory—why do I sneeze sardonically at a bronze drinking fountain named after one who participated in the war vicariously and bought ten farms?
Words in this poem
- undertaker n.
- One who undertakes; one who engages in any project or business.
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- winner n.
- One who wins, or gains by success in competition, contest, or gaming.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- natchez n.
- A tribe of Indians who formerly lived near the site of the city of Natchez, Mississippi. In 1729 they were subdued by the French; the survivors joined the Creek Confederacy.
- orleans n.
- A cloth made of worsted and cotton, -- used for wearing apparel. [So called from the city of Orléans, in France.]
- illinois n.
- A tribe of North American Indians, which formerly occupied the region between the Wabash and Mississippi rivers.
- bitterly adv.
- In a bitter manner.
- anonymously adv.
- In an anonymous manner; without a name.
- sunlit a.
- Lighted by the sun.
- vicariously adv.
- In a vicarious manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Legends 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, Legends, in Cornhuskers (1918), text of Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sandburg-cornhuskers/legends.html, id L29042.
Form and metre
Legends is 6 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Five circus clowns dying this year, morning newspapers told their lives, how each one horizontal in a last gesture of hands arranged by an undertaker, shook thousands into convulsions of laughter from behind rouge-red lips and powder-white face. | 60 | ·/˘·/˘··/˘/·˘·······˘/˘···/˘··˘/··/˘·˘·/˘··˘/˘·/˘·······/˘·· |
| When the boilers of the Robert E. Lee exploded, a steamboat winner of many races on the Mississippi went to the bottom of the river and never again saw the wharves of Natchez and New Orleans. | 54 | ··/˘··/˘··˘/˘·/·/˘·/˘/˘···˘/˘···/˘··/˘·/˘˘/····/···/˘˘ |
| And a legend lives on that two gamblers were blown toward the sky and during their journey laid bets on which of the two would go higher and which would be first to set foot on the turf of the earth again. | 49 | ··/˘····/˘·······/˘·/˘·········/˘··············˘/ |
| When the mysterious foot and mouth epidemic ravaged the cattle of Illinois, Mrs. Hector Smith wept bitterly over the government killing forty of her soft-eyed Jersey cows; through the newspapers she wept over her loss for millions of readers in the Great Northwest. | 70 | ··˘/˘˘····˘/˘/˘·/˘··˘//˘/˘··/˘˘···/˘˘/˘/˘····/˘···/·˘·······/˘·/˘····/ |
| The lady who has had seven lawful husbands has written seven years for a famous newspaper telling how to find love and keep it: seven thousand hungry girls in the Mississippi Valley have read the instructions seven years and found neither illicit loves nor lawful husbands. | 71 | ·/˘···/˘/˘/˘·/˘/˘···/˘/·˘/˘·······/˘/˘/˘····˘/˘/˘···˘/˘/˘···/˘˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| I who saw ten strong young men die anonymously, I who saw ten old mothers hand over their sons to the nation anonymously, I who saw ten thousand touch the sunlit silver finalities of undistinguished human glory—why do I sneeze sardonically at a bronze drinking fountain named after one who participated in the war vicariously and bought ten farms? | 97 | ········˘/˘˘˘·····/˘·······/˘˘/˘˘˘····/˘··/·/˘˘/˘˘··˘/˘/˘/˘····˘/˘˘˘···/˘/˘·····˘/˘·˘···˘/˘˘˘···· |
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.