I have been in Pennsylvania,
In the Monongahela and Hocking Valleys.

In the blue Susquehanna
On a Saturday morning
I saw a mounted constabulary go by,
I saw boys playing marbles.
Spring and the hills laughed.

And in places
Along the Appalachian chain,
I saw steel arms handling coal and iron,
And I saw the white-cauliflower faces
Of miner's wives waiting for the men to come home from the day's work.

I made color studies in crimson and violet
Over the dust and domes of culm at sunset.

‘Pennsylvania’ strikes a balance between the energy and exuberance of ‘Chicago’, and the delicately evocative imagery of ‘Crucible’. The danger in this approach, of course, is the conflict between form and content¹ - Sandburg’s subject is (as usual) the working class, in all its rough glory. But whereas normally he eulogizes it in Whitmanesque free verse (which works perfectly well, as the Chicago poems testify), in ‘Pennsylvania’ his style is closer to the understated elegance of the Imagists. The subtle tension thus generated is very reminiscent of Edna St. Vincent Millay in essence, if not in detail².

As an aside, note how Sandburg uses the lovely rolling syllables of Native American place names³ to wonderful poetic effect, both in sound and in meaning. The transition from suggestion to description is also quite striking; I especially like the overtly Imagist use of colour in the last few lines.

— Thomas

Links

Sandburg’s most famous poem, ‘Chicago’, was also one of the very first poems to be run on the Minstrels. You can read it at poem #5

The EB biography of Sandburg can be had at poem #163

My favourite Sandburg poem is ‘Crucible’ - just 3 sentences long, but absolutely magical. You can read it at poem #205

And of course, all our other poems are archived at
The Wondering Minstrels

[Fascinating Facts]

The Susquehanna flows from central New York State through Pennsylvania and into the Chesapeake Bay in north Maryland. The Monongahela flows north through Virginia and Pennsylvania to unite with the Allegheny at Pittsburgh, there forming the Ohio. The Appalachian range extends from Quebec (in a roughly southwest direction) all the way to Alabama. So now you know.

Glossary

- culm

Pronunciation: ‘k&lm

Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English

Date: 14th century

refuse coal screenings : (syn.) SLAG

– from Merriam-Webster online, http://www.m-w.com/

Endnote

The same people and places are celebrated by Bruce Springsteen in ‘Youngstown’, a sympathetic and insightful portrayal of the decline of Pennsylvania’s coal and steel towns in the 70s and 80s. Beautifully done, and well worth a listen. (It can be found on his vastly underrated 1995 album ‘The Ghost Of Tom Joad’).