Jan Kubelik
Jan Kubelik - context Summary
Published in Chicago Poems
Published in 1916 within Chicago Poems, Sandburg’s short lyric links a musician’s bow to collective responses in Bohemia. Two brief stanzas show a single long note and rapid high tones prompting images of a grieving mother and laughing young women, respectively. The poem situates an act of virtuosity as a spark for communal emotion and nationalized images, using music to conjure scenes of private sorrow and public merriment in a Bohemian setting.
Read Complete AnalysesYour bow swept over a string, and a long low note quivered to the air. (A mother of Bohemia sobs over a new child perfect learning to suck milk.) Your bow ran fast over all the high strings fluttering and wild. (All the girls in Bohemia are laughing on a Sunday afternoon in the hills with their lovers.)
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