Phizzog
This face you got,
This here phizzog you carry around,
You didn’t pick it out for yourself,
at all, at all--did you?
This here phizzog--someone handed it
to you--am I right?
-Carl Sandburg, Good Morning America, 1927.

No one handed Carl Sandburg his fame.  Hard work, long hours of toil and perseverance led to his success.  In numbers of books sold, appearances demanded, fan letters received, honors bestowed, Sandburg was one of the most ‘successful’ American poets of the century.”  (Niven, p. 612)

Sandburg’s name made American newspaper headlines, and he appeared on the covers of Time and Life magazines.
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He was a presence on radio shows, television, and newspapers, and influenced presidents.  Sandburg received over 400 letters a week from school children, universities, organizations, new and accomplished writers, editors, publishers, friends, family, musicians, and politicians. His time was often not his own.

Recognition and awards flooded in, including honorary doctoral degrees from Rollins College, New York University, Lafayette, Wesleyan, Yale and Harvard, two Pulitzer Prizes, a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and a Grammy Award.

Carl Sandburg was the American dream come to fruition. He was a first-generation American with a scattered formal education who rose from humble beginnings to become a celebrity.  His status as a figure in popular culture came from his relationships with people, his ability to tell the stories of people, and his humility.  Ultimately, the people who recognized themselves in his work rewarded Sandburg.

Soup
I saw a famous man eating soup.
I say he was lifting a fat broth
Into his mouth with a spoon.
His name was in the newspapers that day
Spelled out in tall black headlines
And thousands of people were talking about him.

                When I saw him,
He sat bending his head over a plate
Putting soup in his mouth with a spoon.
-Carl Sandburg, Smoke and Steel, 1918.