Which American poet followed Whitman's tradition with The People, Yes!?

• A. Carl Sandburg
• B. Toni Morrison
• C. Alice Walker
• D. Matthew Arnold

Answer: (A)

Whitman's poetry invites a broad chorus of voices and a sense that democracy and the everyday American belong in verse. Carl Sandburg embodies that impulse in The People, Yes! by lifting up workers, farmers, and city life with plain, direct language and a sweeping, communal outlook. The poems feel spoken and public, celebrating the dignity of ordinary people and collective progress—traits that mirror Whitman’s inclusive, expansive approach to poetry. That connection is why Sandburg best fits this tradition.

Toni Morrison and Alice Walker are towering figures in American letters, but their work centers on intimate, personal, and racial experiences expressed through narrative depth and lyricism rather than the broad, populist voice Whitman championed. Matthew Arnold, a British poet from an earlier era, engages different concerns and styles that don’t align with the American democratic poetic project. So, the poet who follows that Whitman tradition in this context is Carl Sandburg.