Chicago (poem)

Monroe liked and encouraged Sandburg's plain-speaking free verse style, strongly reminiscent of Walt Whitman.

Chicago Poems established Sandburg as a major figure in contemporary literature.

"The Chicago Poems and its follow-up volumes of verse, Cornhuskers (1918) and Smoke and Steel (1920), represent Sandburg's attempts to create an American version of social realism, writing expansive verse in praise of American agriculture and industry.

Then as now, the city of Chicago was a hub of commodities trading and a key financial center for agricultural markets.

The city's function and ability to get product to market helped make it an international hub.