Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SHOVEL MAN by CARL SANDBURG

Poet Analysis

First Line: ON THE STREET / SLUNG ON HIS SHOULDER IS A HANDLE HALF WAY ACROSS
Last Line: BETTER THAN ALL THE WILD GRAPES THAT EVER GREW IN TUSCANY.
On the street
Slung on his shoulder is a handle half way across,
Tied in a big knot on the scoop of cast iron
Are the overalls faded from the sun and rain in the ditches;
Spatter of dry clay sticking yellow on his left sleeve
And a flimsy shirt open at the throat,
I know him for a shovel man,
A dago working for a dollar six bits a day
And a dark-eyed woman in the old country dreams of him for one
of the world's ready men with a pair of fresh lips and a kiss
better than all the wild grapes that ever grew in Tuscany.


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