Loam
Loam - context Summary
Published in 1916
Published in Sandburg’s 1916 collection Chicago Poems, "Loam" uses simple, pastoral imagery to place human life inside the earth’s cycles. The free-verse piece reflects Sandburg’s interest in the American landscape and common existence by moving from burial in loam to a brief emergence into sunlight. Its spare lines emphasize bodily return and renewal, fitting the collection’s focus on ordinary lives and natural rhythms.
Read Complete AnalysesIn the loam we sleep, In the cool moist loam, To the lull of years that pass And the break of stars, From the loam, then, The soft warm loam, We rise: To shape of rose leaf, Of face and shoulder. We stand, then, To a whiff of life, Lifted to the silver of the sun Over and out of the loam A day.
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