New book of Sandburg's lost poems



POEMS FOR THE PEOPLE, author Carl Sandburg, edited and with an introduction by George and Willene Hendrick; price $22.60 cloth, review by Martin Litvin.

This book is a fine, helpful presentation of compositions by Carl Sandburg. The writings date from his early, fertile period as a newly-discovered American poet. Seventy-three poems were found by Prof. Hendrick in the Sandburg Archive at the University of Illinois. Prof. Hendrick and his wife Willene edited the writings most agreeably.

A strong, central virtue of the book is its exceptional value as a teaching tool. They have composed a clear, factual, chronological biographical introduction about Sandburg which paves the way for high school English teachers to lead their teenaged students into a study of American Literature and Sandburg's life. This is first rate material.

George Hendrick is professor of English at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Willene Hendrick is an independent scholar. The Hendricks are closely associated with the Sandburg estate and for years have worked with the large Sandburg collection at the University of Illinois. George Hendrick's other books include To Reach Eternity: The Letters of James Jones and Sandburg's More Rootagabas; together the Hendricks have edited Selected Poems of Carl Sandburg.

Poems for the People
by Carl Sandburg
Edited with an introduction by George and Willene Hendrick
192 pages, $22.50 cloth
ISBN 1-56663-236-6
Publication date: May 7, 1999


Posted to Zephyr Online April 3, 1999
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