Carl Sandburg was a writer of his times, a writer of the American people in the American landscape and later, a writer for all of humanity. He believed it was a writer’s civic duty to use the right of free speech and expression to defend freedom and democracy. Sandburg was fiercely independent, an individual whose works reflected his beliefs.

The Great Depression (1929-1939) provoked Sandburg to speak to the issues of these hard times and a desire to console "the people of the earth, the family of man" and to lift the hopes of the people who "In the darkness with a great bundle of grief…"marched in tune and step with the constellations of universal law" The People Yes, 1936.

Sandburg noted  in the introduction to his book of children's poetry, Early Moon that “poetry is as old as language, that the first words spoken by man were poetry.” He continues, “only poetry can explain the unexplainable, the mysterious doings of the universe, the inner workings of the human heart.”  He begins his epic poem, Good Morning America, with 38 definitions of poetry, including;
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Poetry is an art practiced with the terribly plastic material of human language.
Poetry is a series of explanations of life, fading off into horizons too swift for explanations.
Poetry is a dark sky with a wild duck migration.
Poetry is the opening and closing of a door, leaving those who look through to guess about what is seen during a moment.
Poetry is a packsack of invisible keepsakes.
Poetry is a kinetic arrangement of static syllables.
Poetry is a shuffling of boxes of illusions buckled with a strap of facts.
Poetry is the achievement of the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits.