The Poetic Father of Freedom

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Malcom Cowley, an American literary critic, once said that, “Before Walt Whitman, America hardly existed”. Walt Whitman was an American poet born in 1819 in New York, living during the time period of slavery, The Civil War, and the death of Abraham Lincoln. Often nicknamed ‘The Bard of Democracy’, Whitman was most remembered for celebrating the freedom Americans had found through their new political system of democracy. Democracy is a form of government in which citizens have the power to elect leaders who represent their beliefs. Through democracy, people are treated equally and have equal rights. Whitman believed that the American form of democracy for government gave American citizens freedoms that they were unable to experience before this type of government was put in place. Throughout many of his poems, Whitman repeats this deep love of American freedom which he expresses through his creative writing. He writes about several categories of freedom, including the freedom to pursue what one desires, the freedom to be an individual, and the freedom of equality. The poems “I Hear America Singing”, “One’s- Self I Sing”, and “America” reveal Whitman’s love of freedom through democracy as his source of inspiration which he conveys as good news for Americans to hear. In the poem “I Hear America Singing”, the freedom for one to pursue what he or she loves is made evident through Whitman’s writing. The struggle to reach for one’s dreams in Whitman’s lifetime was challenging and took a courageous person to break free of the expectations that were set for him/her. Whitman writes: “Those of mechanics, each one singing…/The carpenter singing his as he measures…/The boatman singing…in his boat…”(lines 2,3 &5). Whitman uses repetition as he starts each line with characters singing while working, which creates an emphasis on the word ‘singing’. By repeating the statement, it

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