Fog

 

FOG

-          By Carl Sandburg

 

Introduction

The poem Fog by Carl Sandburg is a short American Haiku. In this poem, the poet has personified the fog and compares it with a cat that stealthily enters the city, stay there for a while and then moves away. Through this poem, the poet has characterized the fog to show that a mundane natural event can also be glorified. The poem demonstrates author’s appreciation for nature.

Theme

There can be many themes in the poem which we will discuss below.

Theme of Nature

The poet has describes a simple natural event that we see occurring every now and then. Although, appearing of fog in nature is a common phenomenon and no one pay any detailed attention towards it. But the poet has described it very vividly and compared it with a cat.   According to him, the fog as well as cat creeps into the humans’ world without any warning or notice. Like the cat, fog is patient and silent. It stands still at one place and finally goes away.

Theme of Change

Another theme the poem present is Change. Change in the nature as well as in human’s life is inevitable. Sometimes the change in our life is so quiet and silent that we never notice or know when this happened. The poet has tried to illustrate this change by appearance of fog the very silently comes and cover the entire city and harbour.  

Theme of Hope

Another theme in the poem is the theme of hope and betterment. We face many ups and downs in life. Sometimes we are surrounded by many problems and difficulties. These difficulties creep in our life very quietly and make us distressed and hopeless.  However these difficulties do not remain in our life forever and silently go away. Therefore the poem presents a view that we should be always hopeful whenever we face any problems.  

Summary of the Poem

The poet says that the fog comes towards the city and the harbour very silently just like a cat. He has compared its arrival to that of a cat because a cat always enters a place silently. Next he says that the fog has covered the whole of the city and harbour and it appears as if it is sitting by folding its legs and looking around just the way a cat does when it sits on the haunches and looks around. At the end, the fog moves away very silently similar to the movement of the cat which is very silent and quiet.

 

Poetic Devices in Fog

Metaphor

The entire poem is an extended metaphor.

The fog is compared to a cat—quiet, graceful, and stealthy.

Example: “It sits looking over harbor and city / on silent haunches.”

Personification

The fog is described as though it is alive and behaving like a cat.

It “comes,” “sits,” “looks,” and then “moves on.”

Imagery

Vivid pictures are created in the reader’s mind: a cat sitting silently, observing, then moving away.

Visual (cat sitting), Auditory (silence), Kinesthetic (movement).

Simile (Implied)

Although the word “like” or “as” is not used, the fog is likened to a cat in behavior and motion.

Symbolism

The fog symbolizes nature’s quiet but powerful presence—mysterious, unpredictable, and transient.

Free Verse

The poem has no rhyme scheme, rhythm, or fixed meter—typical of free verse, which gives it natural flow.

 

Additional Questions.

 

Q1. How does the fog spread over the harbour and the city?

Q2. How does Carl Sandburg describe the arrival, stay and departure of fog through the image of a metaphorical cat?

Q3. In the poem, the fog is described as living being. Substantiate the statement. 

Q4. Explain the term “on little cat feet.” 

Q5. Stealth is an important aspect of fog. State any two instances from the poem “Fog” that suggest the same.

Q6. Is the fog portrayed as a resident of the city or as an outsider? Support your answer with two such references from the poem.

Q7. Write about the poetic devices used in the poem.

019	Read the extract and answer: “It sits looking / over harbour and city / on silent haunches / and then moves on.” (a) What does ‘It’ refer to here?

 

2017	According to the poet, What is fog like? How does it come?

 

2017 / C-code / B-code

How has Carl Sandburg portrayed the nature and its silent working?

 

2018	What is fog compared to? What does it look over?

 

2018	Where does fog lie and how?

 

CBSE 2012

What does Sandburg think the fog is like? How does the fog come? What does ‘it’ in the third line refer to?

 

Multiple Years

Does the poet actually say that the fog is like a cat? Find three things that tell us that the fog is like a cat.

 

2010	According to the poet, what is the fog like?

 

2015	What is the fog compared to?

 

2007	What does the fog look over?