Psalm of Those Who Go Forth Before Daylight
Psalm of Those Who Go Forth Before Daylight - meaning Summary
Work Shapes Daily Dignity
Sandburg sketches early-morning laborers—the policeman, teamster, milkman, and steelworkers—through plain, observational snapshots that emphasize routine, physical wear, and quiet pride. The poem highlights the rhythms and material costs of working lives: careful purchases, solitary tasks, soiled clothing, and shared endurance. Repetition and simple cataloging create a collective portrait of solidarity and dignity born from steady, often unseen labor in the industrial city.
Read Complete AnalysesTHE POLICEMAN buys shoes slow and careful; the teamster buys gloves slow and careful; they take care of their feet and hands; they live on their feet and hands. The milkman never argues; he works alone and no one speaks to him; the city is asleep when he is on the job; he puts a bottle on six hundred porches and calls it a day’s work; he climbs two hundred wooden stairways; two horses are company for him; he never argues. The rolling-mill men and the sheet-steel men are brothers of cinders; they empty cinders out of their shoes after the day’s work; they ask their wives to fix burnt holes in the knees of their trousers; their necks and ears are covered with a smut; they scour their necks and ears; they are brothers of cinders.
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