BIG question:• According to Carl Sandburg, what is

Chicago’s personality?

NicknamesThe Windy City

Second CityParis on the Prairie

The Big OnionCity of Broad Shoulders

Make a Prediction • I think that Chicago is nicknamed

______________________________ because…

Chicago: A Great American City

The Windy City• An explanation for Chicago being a

naturally breezy area is that it is on the shores of Lake Michigan.

• This nickname suggests that Chicagoans talk a lot, including bragging about their city: they are “windy.” It is an insult attributed first to Cincinnati newspapers from the 1870s, and which caught on in the vernacular thereafter. Cincinnati and Chicago were rival cities in the 1860s and 1870s, for example in the meatpacking trade… starting from the early 1860s, Chicago surpassed Cincinnati in this trade… Four of the first known citations of "Windy City" are from 1876, all involving Cincinnati [newspapers, accusing Chicagoans of being “windy” or bragging about their city and its success].

Second City• A derogatory nickname

for the city [suggesting it is not as good as New York] used in a 1950s New Yorker article.

• Also used to describe Chicago after the Great Chicago Fire, in which a second city was built on top of the ashes of the first one.

Paris on the Prairie• From the 1909 plan for the

City of Chicago created by Daniel Burnham.

• [This remarkable document will be studied further in the unit and provides a remarkable model of urban planning that provided the framework over decades for one of the nation’s signature cities.]

The Big OnionAn homage to the original Native American name for the area (shikaakwa, which means "wild onion" in the Miami-Illinois language), in parallel with a popular New York nickname, "The Big Apple."

The City of Broad Shoulders

• From Carl Sandburg’s poem, “Chicago,” which we will close-read today.

Close Reading• “Chicago” by Carl Sandburg

Purpose for Reading:

• Why do you think this poem is so important to people from Chicago?

• In what ways does it capture the character of the city?

First Read

Second Read1. ANNOTATE: What are the most important words that Sandburg uses to describe Chicago?

2. ANNOTATE: What are the most important parts of this poem that describe Chicago?

Third Read

3. ANNOTATE: imagery (i)

4. ANNOTATE: theme topics (T)

Independent Practice & TDQ’s

• **Available on class blog under Independent Practice

ACEA – answer the question in a complete sentence

C – Cite Text Evidence “in quotes”

E – Explain how the quote supports the answer. A quote never stands alone!

Exit Ticket• Available on class blog under Exit

Ticket tab.