Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, JACK, by CARL SANDBURG


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

JACK, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Jack was a swarthy, swaggering son-of-a-gun
Last Line: Swarthy, swaggering son-of-a-gun.
Subject(s): Labor & Laborers; Work; Workers


JACK was a swarthy, swaggering son-of-a-gun.
He worked thirty years on the railroad, ten hours a day, and his hands were tougher than sole
leather.
He married a tough woman and they had eight children and the woman died and the children grew up
and went away and wrote the old man every two years.
He died in the poorhouse sitting on a bench in the sun telling reminiscences to other old men whose
women were dead and children scattered.
There was joy on his face when he died as there was joy on his face when he lived -- he was a
swarthy, swaggering son-of-a-gun.





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