"Ordering a man to write a poem is like commanding a pregnant woman to give birth to a red-headed child"
About this Quote
Sandburg’s line is a poet’s refusal to be turned into a vending machine. It’s funny in a blunt, Midwestern way, but the joke has teeth: you can demand output, you can set deadlines, you can even coerce labor, yet you can’t decree the specific inner conditions that make art arrive as art. The comparison to pregnancy isn’t just about “creation” in the sentimental sense; it’s about time, risk, and embodied unpredictability. Birth happens when it happens. A poem, for Sandburg, is less a product than an emergence.
The red-headed child is the barb that makes the metaphor work. He’s not only rejecting command; he’s rejecting the fantasy of control down to the details. You might force the event (deliver the baby), but you can’t dictate the traits. Likewise, an editor, patron, or institution can commission “a poem,” but they can’t order the spark, the voice, the oddness that makes it worth reading. The line quietly defends failure as part of the process: if you can’t guarantee the hair color, you also can’t guarantee the masterpiece.
Context matters: Sandburg wrote in an America rapidly professionalizing culture, where newspapers, lecture circuits, and public occasions increasingly asked poets to perform on cue. His populist reputation and plain style often get mistaken for ease. This quote corrects that misread: the work may sound accessible, but its arrival isn’t obedient. It’s a claim for artistic autonomy disguised as a one-sentence punchline.
The red-headed child is the barb that makes the metaphor work. He’s not only rejecting command; he’s rejecting the fantasy of control down to the details. You might force the event (deliver the baby), but you can’t dictate the traits. Likewise, an editor, patron, or institution can commission “a poem,” but they can’t order the spark, the voice, the oddness that makes it worth reading. The line quietly defends failure as part of the process: if you can’t guarantee the hair color, you also can’t guarantee the masterpiece.
Context matters: Sandburg wrote in an America rapidly professionalizing culture, where newspapers, lecture circuits, and public occasions increasingly asked poets to perform on cue. His populist reputation and plain style often get mistaken for ease. This quote corrects that misread: the work may sound accessible, but its arrival isn’t obedient. It’s a claim for artistic autonomy disguised as a one-sentence punchline.
Quote Details
| Topic | Poetry |
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