Fog (First Flight)

ABOUT THE POET Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) Poet Carl Sandburg was born into a poor family in Galesburg, Illinois. In his youth, he worked many odd jobs before serving in the 6th Illinois Infantry in Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War. He studied at Lombard College, and then moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he worked as an organizer for the Socialist Democratic Party. In 1913, he moved to Chicago, Illinois and wrote for the Chicago Daily News. His first poems were published by Harriet Monroe in Poetry magazine. Sandburg’s collection Chicago Poems(1916) was highly regarded, and he received the Pulitzer Prize for Corn Huskers(1918). His many subsequent books of poetry include The People, Yes (1936), Good Morning, America (1928), Slabs of the Sunburnt West (1922), and Smoke and Steel (1920).

The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

1. How does the fog come?
The fog comes on little cat feet.

2. Where does the fog look and how?
It looks over the port and the city. It is like a cat sitting on its haunches.

3. What does the fog do in the end?
In the end, the fog marches on.

4. 4. For what does ‘it’ stand in the third line?
‘It’, here, is the little cat as well as the fog.

5. Why does the poet use the metaphor of a cat?

The poet beautifully captures those moments when the fog came moving in over the harbour waters. The poet gives a powerful image of the fog through a metaphorical cat. The poet sees the fog as a cat that comes on its tiny, silent feet, as cats do while they are stalking.

6. How does the fog enter?
The fog enters silently like a little cat.

7. How does it sit and what does it look?
The fog sits silently on its haunches overlooking the harbour and the city.

8. How does it depart?
The fog stays for a while and departs silently.

9. What metaphor has the poet used in the poem ‘Fog’? Do you think it is appropriate?

In the poem Fog’, Carl Sandburg has metaphorically compared the fog to a cat.. Perhaps the poet wants to emphasize the silent nature and mysterious ways of the fog, so he has compared the fog to a cat. A cat does not make a sound when it walks. So also is the fog, but its presence is apparent. Its “silence” is very much like that of a cat moving on its little feet. Then the fog stays in its place looking over the harbour and city which creates a hazy atmosphere all around. The way it sits is very much like a cat sitting on its haunches, looking here and there before it makes a move. This is as if the fog remains a silent spectator of the happenings in the city. Whatever the purpose may be, both the fog as well as a cat make their impression and make their presence felt. The comparison of the fog to a cat seems very appropriate because, reading the poem, one feels that truly, the fog approaches stealthily, just like a cat.

10. What is the message conveyed in the poem?

The poet observes the fog and its movement and compares it to a cat. The comparison is quite apt as the two are similar in many aspects. The poet is a silent observer of fog as part of nature and captures its elusive, independent and fickle nature.