Fog

1.0About the Poet

Carl August Sandburg (born January 6, 1878, Galesburg, Ill., U.S.—died July 22, 1967, Flat Rock, N.C.) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes, two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. He enjoyed unrivalled appeal as a poet in his day, perhaps because the breadth of his experiences connected him with so many strands of American life.

Central Idea

Carl Sandburg has described the appearance and disappearance of fog with poetic beauty. In its appearance and disappearance, the law of Nature changes and newness has been described. Poem also suggests that every object, living being, and natural phenomenon is the victim of death and decay.

2.0A Great Metaphor

The poet says that the fog which is generally seen during the winter season is coming towards the city and the harbour just like a cat. This means that it is approaching the city in a very silent manner so that no one can notice its arrival. He has compared its arrival to that of a cat because a cat always enters a place silently. Next, he says that the fog has covered the whole of the city and harbour and it appears as if it is sitting by folding its legs and looking around just the way a cat does when it sits on the haunches and looks around. At the end, he describes the departure of the fog very silently and unpredictably, again, similar to the departure of the cat, vanishes.

3.0Poetic Devices used in the Poem

• Metaphor - Metaphor is an expression, often found in literature, that describes a person or object by referring to something that is considered to have similar characteristics to that person or object. Example : On little cat feet (here fog is compared to cat)
• Enjambment - is a literary device in which a line of poetry carries its idea or thought over to the next line without a grammatical pause. Example : It sits looking ___ then moves on
• Personification - In this figure of speech human characteristics are attributed to an abstract quality, animal, or inanimate object. Example : Fog comes, it sits (Fog has been personified)

4.0Let's Recall

• The poet is describing the arrival of fog.
• Here, the fog has been compared with a little cat. As a cat walks silently on its small feet and no one can know about its arrival, in a similar way, the fog also sets in.
• The fog enters the city very slowly and calmly in such a way that no one can predict its arrival.
• Then the poet says, the thick cloud of the fog covers the entire city in a similar way as the cat sits silently by folding her legs behind itself.
• The fog engulfs the harbour and the whole city silently and looks around the places, the way a cat does.
• After some time, the fog leaves the city and moves on.
• Here, the poet wants to convey that the fog does not stay for a longer time duration in a particular place. It disappears after some interval, just like a cat without being noticed by anyone.