Chicago Poet
Chicago Poet - meaning Summary
Facing the Double Within
The poem presents a stark, intimate encounter with the speaker's mirror-double, the "looking-glass man," who mirrors every gesture and thought. Sandburg frames this figure as both companion and indictment—liar, dreamer, soldier—an inescapable part of the self that will follow the speaker into solitude and death. The poem explores identity, conscience, and mortality through personification and a resigned acceptance of this persistent inner presence.
Read Complete AnalysesI saluted a nobody. I saw him in a looking-glass. He smiled--so did I. He crumpled the skin on his forehead, frowning--so did I. Everything I did he did. I said, "Hello, I know you." And I was a liar to say so. Ah, this. looking-glass man! Liar, fool, dreamer, play-actor, Soldier, dusty drinker of dust-- Ah! he will go with me Down the dark stairway When nobody else is looking, When everybody else is gone. He locks his elbow in mine, I lose all--but not him.
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