Washerwoman

Washerwoman - context Summary

Published 1916 in Chicago

The poem presents a Salvation Army washerwoman who, while scrubbing laundry, sings of Jesus washing away her sins. Sandburg links the physical ritual of cleaning with spiritual redemption, making ordinary labor a metaphor for moral renewal. The short scene highlights the dignity and faith of a working-class woman and treats her daily work as both practical toil and sacred ritual within an urban, realist frame.