Passers-by
Passers-by - context Summary
Published in Chicago Poems
Published in 1916 in Chicago Poems, Sandburg’s "Passers-by" stems from his attention to urban life and ordinary people. The speaker watches city pedestrians at day’s end and projects memories of hardship, yearning and quiet dignity onto their faces, mouths and voices. The poem compresses civic observation and empathy into brief recollections, treating each passerby as a record of hopes, labors and private longing within the modern city.
Read Complete AnalysesPassers-by, Out of your many faces Flash memories to me Now at the day end Away from the sidewalks Where your shoe soles traveled And your voices rose and blent To form the city's afternoon roar Hindering an old silence. Passers-by, I remember lean ones among you, Throats in the clutch of a hope, Lips written over with strivings, Mouths that kiss only for love. Records of great wishes slept with, Held long And prayed and toiled for. . Yes, Written on Your mouths And your throats I read them When you passed by.
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