Seven pages into the preface of his huge collection of poems, Carl Sandburg tells us that he will not pontificate on the art of poetry, which is what famous writers often do in that section. Instead, he says “A poet explains for us what for him is poetry by what he presents to us in his poems.” What? After winning the Pulitzer Prize three times, this is all he says? He is the only American writer to distinguish himself in five fields—poetry, history, biography, fiction, and music. Sandburg is the rare leader who sees himself as a learner.
Sandburg, Carl. “Notes for a Preface” for The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich., 1969, p. xxxix.