This document analyzes and summarizes two 20th century poems: "The River Merchant's Wife: A Letter" by Ezra Pound and "Fog" by Carl Sandburg. The summary of Pound's poem is that it depicts the struggles of a young woman who was married off at a young age and was not treated well by her husband. The summary of Sandburg's poem is that it describes fog rolling into a city on soft feet and silently observing the landscape before moving on. The document also provides brief historical context about immigration to America in the 1920s.

1. 5.05 Analyzing 20th Century Poetry
By: Andrew Mijat

2. "THE RIVER MERCHANT'S WIFE: A LETTER" BY EZRA
POUND
While my hair was still cut straight across my forehead
I played about the front gate, pulling flowers.
You came by on bamboo stilts, playing horse,
You walked about my seat, playing with blue plums.
And we went on living in the village of Chokan:
Two small people, without dislike or suspicion.
At fourteen I married My Lord you.
I never laughed, being bashful.
Lowering my head, I looked at the wall.
Called to, a thousand times, I never looked back.
At fifteen I stopped scowling,
I desired my dust to be mingled with yours
Forever and forever and forever.
Why should I climb the look out?
At sixteen you departed,
You went into far Ku-to-yen, by the river of swirling eddies,
And you have been gone five months.
The monkeys make sorrowful noise overhead.
You dragged your feet when you went out.
By the gate now, the moss is grown, the different mosses,
Too deep to clear them away!
The leaves fall early this autumn, in wind.
The paired butterflies are already yellow with August
Over the grass in the West garden;
They hurt me. I grow older.
If you are coming down through the narrows of the river Kiang,
Please let me know beforehand,
And I will come out to meet you
As far as Cho-fu-Sa

3. "THE RIVER MERCHANT'S WIFE: A LETTER" BY EZRA POUND
This poem is talking about how women in the 20th
century married young, and they weren't treated
very well by their husband. In the poem the
husband is leaving his wife to go to work, and at
a certain point she wishes for him to come back
because she feels like he is missing out on all
the new things that are happening at home with
all the new advances of technology. I also feel
like the poem is talking about how since she
married so young she doesn't get to live out her
life to her fullest ability.

4. "Fog" by Carl Sandburg
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

5. During the 1920's, the
American Dream was still
thriving, for many
immigrants to make their
way to America in hopes
of reaching their dreams.
The poem talks about the
many languages traveling
like "a river," going place
to place, "from nation to
nation, crossing boarders
and mixing."
"Fog" by Carl Sandburg

6. During the 1920's, the
American Dream was still
thriving, for many
immigrants to make their
way to America in hopes
of reaching their dreams.
The poem talks about the
many languages traveling
like "a river," going place
to place, "from nation to
nation, crossing boarders
and mixing."
"Fog" by Carl Sandburg