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Walt whitman i hear america singing analysis
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A display of proud patriotism in the variety of the American people is seen in Walt Whitman’s poem I Hear America Singing. Whitman “hears America singing” which is the sound of American people joyfully singing as they work in unity. Each worker is transforming America to be the best it can be with an upbeat attitude as they try to make the best of their work efforts. Their lively songs are filled with pride as they “each sing what belongs to him or her” (Whitman) which describes each of their unique traits that makes them special and valued citizens of America. Of the various images depicted the ending even includes the workers united as a whole singing up till the very end of their day. Upon further analyzation of the poem, the method of writing
In one of the sections from the poem, “Song of Myself” Walt Whitman starts out with a child asking a question, “What is the grass?” Grass is a symbol of life. God, who created both the heavens and the earth also gave birth to life. When Whitman refers to grass as a “handkerchief of the Lord” (7), as a gift. When people look at the grass, they do not think of it as a creation but rather just a plant. Whitman refers to the grass as “a child, the produced babe of vegetation” (11, 12). Here, the grass is a metaphor for the birth of a child. In often cases, the birth of anything is celebrated because it symbolizes a new life, a new beginning.
America is a country rich in history, which can be dated back to 1776 with its independence from the British. With this new-found independence came a great loss of life and new found freedoms. This land did not come without struggles and bloodshed, from people that believed that this land was worth fighting for. It wasn’t necessary the land that was special, it was the belief of what this land represented. With the new-found freedoms, giving to individuals where the freedom to express them self in many formats, many express their patriotism in forms of poetry and in music. There have been several songs written by many different musicians, but the most significant to America’s core values are My country, ‘tis of thee by Samuel F. Smith, God
Let America Be America Again, written by Langston Hughes, was written to make a satirical statement about the American Dream. He uses personification, alliteration, and imagery to bring home his point that the “dream the dreamers dreamed” (Hughes ???) not only has never existed but will never truly exist for the common man. According to the speaker, assumed to be Hughes but in reality could be anyone who is hopeless and unhappy in this land where “equality is in the air we breathe” (???), that as long as there are “kings” and “tyrants” (???), the American Dream is only an unobtainable goal but is something that must be kept alive.
In, “ I Hear America Singing”, Walt Whitman uses alliteration, literal imagery, and tone to express the idea that there are many individual, hardworking workers in this country, but as a whole these people carry out the American pride. America does not only consist of one person, but it is the whole population that makes what America is today. This country is filled with fun and laughter for everyone to enjoy!
My Captain! is an undeniably articulate and timeless piece of literary work that captures the sentiments of a country that should have been celebrating the end of a tumultuous era, it captures an elegy’s rhythm effectively, and the metaphor of the captain, sea, and ship remain relatable. Additionally, this elegy is cleanly done so that every line reads exactly how Whitman wished it to be read and at a tempo appropriate for an elegy. The poem itself never strays far from familiar traditions of poetic rhythm and rhyme while managing to never become childish in its scheme or theme. More impressively, the text itself was structured to physically manipulate the reader’s comfort and gaze while, again, managing to still be clean and concise. Also, despite being an extended metaphor, the work never became overly dressed or a subject that disconnected with readers. In closing, upon closely rereading this poem, Walt Whitman’s O Captain! My Captain! perfectly plays with metaphors, rhythm, and structure to encapsulate a pivotal moment in American
In this classes, we learned about all various aspects of what people from our past thought an American was. The idea of what I thought an American was has changed completely. I thought that an American was someone who was born in the United States or someone who had fought for our country or even our freedom, in some respects. Now, I know that an American can be something different depending on the person you are talking to or their beliefs. We viewed the differences of what an American was from Walt Whitman, Thomas Paine, and de Crevecoeur.
Individualism is a resounding tone heard throughout Whitman’s prose about democracy that was influenced by the historical context of the times as well as the ideology he independently formulated. The dawn of Jacksonian democracy called for a new American identity that diverged from old European views. Cultural reform movements, including Young America and Transcendentalism, combined with American industrialization, urbanization, and immigration to set a predominant tone of originality and individuality. Walt Whitman, while in his earlier years, formed a unique poetic style incorporating free verse, anaphoras, catalogues, and his famous poetic “I” that all symbolically and literally reflected this dramatic shift in American culture. “I Hear
America the great, land of freedom, home of the brave--each of these phrases has been used to describe the United States of America. Walt Whitman was a man who lived through many tough times in this country, but who would prosper as a poet. He was personally affected by all of the death and destruction that he witnessed during the Civil War. "A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim" and "I Hear America Singing" have some fascinating similarities but include many differences. Although both poems were written by the same man, he seemed to see America in a different light when writing each poem. Each piece uses different tones and images, but they are tied together by the style of writing and use of America as a main subject. In "I Hear America Singing" and "A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim," Whitman uses differing tones, images, styles of writing, and even different themes to show the splendors and downfalls that America can bring.
American authors imply what it’s like to be an American poetry. In the poems “I hear America singing”, by Walt Whitman and “I, too, sing America”, by Langston Hughes, both use their poems to share their point of view on America with their readers. Whitman's poem is about America pride. It describes the voices of working Americans and how the workers love what they do and they sang joyfully. For instance, when it says “The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,” This quote demonstrates how the workers enjoy working peacefully with no hesitation and expresses Whitman's love of America. In “I too, sing America” shows the discrimination and segregation in our
Whitman, Walt. "I Hear America Singing." Selected Poems and Prose. Ed. A. Norman Jeffares. London: Oxford UP, 1966. 125.
Equality, equality is something for everyone to be treated the same way. For all boys, girls, moms’, dads’, to be equal. “I Hear America Singing” is a poem by Walt Whitman, but this poem has something to do with celebrating America. In the poem it says “The carpenter singing, the mason singing, the boatman singing, the shoemaker singing, the woodcutter singing, and the wife singing” The author is trying to tell the readers that everyone is the same, and that everyone sings for America. When the author says that everyone is singing, he is referring that everyone is celebrating America while others are being told what to do and when to do it. In the poem “I, Too” is a poem by Langston Hughes, and this poem is very similar to the other poem, “I Hear America
“Do I contradict myself? Very well, then, I contradict myself / I am large; I contain multitudes” (Whitman 53). In Walt Whitman's poem, "A Song of Myself", Whitman offers this bold admission, showing no embarrassment or shame: as human beings are “only human”, each one is in some way imperfect, contradictory, and inconsistent. Human nature changes from moment to moment, and we never hold the same thought or feeling for very long; the mind is always on the move. Though in very different ways, this dual nature is also very much in evidence in the two pieces of literature being reviewed for this essay: "The Fish" by Elizabeth Bishop, and The Bear by Anton Chekhov. Both articles, interestingly enough, bear the names of wild creatures, and
Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" is a vision of the American spirit, a vision of Whitman himself. It is his cry for democracy, giving each of us a voice through his poetry. Each of us has a voice and desires, and this is Whitman's representation of our voices, the voice of America. America, the great melting pot, was founded for freedom and democracy, and this poem is his way of re-instilling these lost American ideals. In this passage from "Song of Myself" Whitman speaks through his fellow man and speaks for his fellow man when his voice is not socially acceptable to be heard.
While the poem can be termed to be democratic, both in subject matter and its language, Whitman is viewed to be cataloging the ‘new’ America that he is seeing around him. The poem includes subject matter such as relationships, patriotism, heroes, family and ancestors, and a view on social commentaries too.
Although Whitman uses a great deal of structural ways to stress his ideas, he also uses many other ways of delivering his ideas. First of all, Whitman portrays himself as a public spokesman of the masses. The tone of the poem is a very loud, informative tone that grabs ones attention. The emphasis placed on the word “all” adds to the characterization of Whitman as a powerful speaker. Furthermore, Whitman takes part in his own poem. Participating in his own poem, Whitman moreover illustrates the connection between everything in life. Lastly, Whitman, most of all, celebrates universal brotherhood and democracy.