I Am the People, the Mob
I Am the People, the Mob - context Summary
Published in 1916
Written for Sandburg’s 1916 Chicago Poems, this populist piece gives voice to the working masses. Sandburg identifies as "the people," cataloguing labor, invention and historical witness while stressing a dangerous collective forgetfulness that allows exploitation. The poem warns that only by remembering past betrayals and learning from history can the crowd claim power and end elites’ sneering. It functions as both indictment and call to political consciousness.
Read Complete AnalysesI AM the people—the mob—the crowd—the mass. Do you know that all the great work of the world is done through me? I am the workingman, the inventor, the maker of the world's food and clothes. I am the audience that witnesses history. The Napoleons come from me and the Lincolns. I am the seed ground. I am a prairie that will stand for much plowing. Terrible storms pass over me. I forget. The best of me is sucked out and wasted. I forget. Everything but death comes to me and makes me work and give up what I have. And I forget. Sometimes I growl, shake myself and spatter a few red drops for history to remember. Then—I forget. When I, the People, learn to remember, when I, the People, use the lessons of yesterday and no longer forget who robbed me last year, who played me for a fool—then there will be no speaker in all the world say the name: "The People," with any fleck of a sneer in his voice or any far-off smile of derision. The mob—the crowd—the mass—will arrive then.
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