I Hear America Singing And Sherman Alexie's Hymn : A Comparison

From this poem one can feel the compassion that Whitman has for the common American workingman. He has much respect for him and believes that he is what makes up America and what causes America to keep on moving. He portrays the workers to all be singing to emphasize that they are proud of the work that they do. Whitman and Sandburg both enjoy going through and naming each of the workers separately in order to display the vast number of people who fall into the working class. In the poem above you can see how Whitman talks about how the different workers enjoy their jobs and are happy with the talents that they have in their specialized positions. The last line of part 1 demonstrates how the workers leave their work and are able to relax and enjoy their lives at night when the work day is over. The second part of I hear American Singing is Whitman sending an invitation to all of those who are

Born ten years after the death of Walt Whitman, there was no possible way for Langston Hughes to ever meet or communication with Whitman, but that did not mean Hughes could not establish a connection to him, or at least his work. In 1925, Hughes wrote a poem titled “I, Too” was inspired by and directed in response to the poem “I Hear America Singing”, which was composed by Whitman much earlier. Whitman’s poem consisted of a variety of different American laborers who “sing” as they do their jobs. This well-known poem never specifically addresses the ethnicity of these singing laborers of the American population, but Hughes sets about to rectify that omission.

It is often inferred by many people that have read both Walt Whitman's poem “I Hear America Singing”, and Langston Hughes poem “I, Too, Sing America”, that one is a response to the other. Walt Whitman was an extremely famous poet and still is presently. His poem was very patriotic and inspired a lot of people. Langston Hughes did not see the poem in a positive way. In what many think is a retaliation to the poem, Langston Hughes wrote “I, Too, Sing America”. Langston Hughes’s poem “I, Too, Sing America” builds on and compares with Walt Whitman’s poem in many ways, it says we all Americans, they sound very much alike, we need to be together as one.

In “I Hear America Singing,” Walt Whitman’s message of the American identity is that it is diverse and proud. The fact the American identity is diverse is proven best in the first line, which states, “I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear.” In this line, the word “varied” proves that it is diverse because if something is varied it has a variety of things amassing it. The American identity being proud is proven by the line, “Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else.” This line proves that the American identity is proud because it is saying that we celebrate what only we have. This celebration evinces that we are proud of what we gain by working.

America has produced many opportunities for the immigrants, who built the nation from the ground up. Those Immigrants are what make the American Identity unique with being recognized by the world. The nation went through the trial of fire beginning with the American Revolution, then the Civil War, and now Global Peace. Furthermore, each event has a common trait, which is the people, who came here to achieve their dreams. America has been the bastion of democracy and opportunities for many centuries. The similarities and differences between “I Hear America Singing,” “To Walt Whitman,” and “I, Too, Sing America” are viewpoints on America, motivates, experiences, and viewpoints.

The poems “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus and “I Hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman, exemplify the idea of American freedom in its purest form. While one poem talks about one most important symbols in American history, and another talks about the average American’s way of life, both poems convey the of American triumph and success.

The love in each poem is real and unique ranging from Walt Whitman's “I hear America singing” to Gregory Djanikian “Sailing to America”. Walt Whitman was born in brooklyn with very limited education during the 1800’s and published many amazing works of literature during his lifetime one of those is I hear America sing

America, the place where hopes and dreams come true, where people come to look for better opportunity is welcome to people from every nation out there. America doesn’t just have one nationality, it is full of immigrants, who come for a better life. The phrases ‘I’m an American’ is a part of our everyday vocabulary, but what does it mean? To be an American means to be yourself and have pride in what you do. Every American has a special skill to contribute to make America what it is today. That’s what makes America unique compared to other countries in the world.

One must not focus narrowly on America to find this definition, but zoom out until the entire globe is in view to visualize it. From the youngest to the oldest, poorest to the wealthiest, or single orphan to the largest family to arrive on American shores, they are all changed somewhat, for better or worse, by the American experience. Admittedly, some may think this is too broad of a definition, or American Literature is undefinable. I will argue that as long as the idea of what America promises remains alive, all literature ever inspired by this dream will always be truly and exclusively

When I think of America, I think of freedom. We live in a country where we can do what we choose. We can express our opinions and live our own lives. Individuals can form their own individual beliefs and they can do what they want and pursue what they wish. They can play basketball, go to school, get a job, have a family, buy a house, or go to church. We are free. We have opportunity to be whatever we want to make ourselves. When you ask, what is an American? I find it no different to ask, what is freedom? America and freedom are intertwined and this relationship is evident in American literature.

Walt Whitman explores individualism by looking through all of the diversity within America and identifying that people are different and have come from many different backgrounds. However, we are all one in the same due to the connection of being American. He does this because he wants to maintain his individual “self-hood” while finding a place within America, a happy medium. The role of the individual in this piece of work Whitman states is “one of the Nation of many Nations, the smallest the same and the largest the same,” which means everyone has a different background and have all come from many places far away, but are still apart of America nonetheless. This is what brings us together. In the opening section of Song of Myself Whitman starts by saying all human beings are the same, “And what I assume you shall assume, for every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.” I believe this is Whitman’s attempt at trying to merge his own self into society, while maintaining his “self-hood.”

In the poem "I Hear America Singing" by Walt Whitman, the reader envisions a country of people working for the greater good of mankind. These people come together as part of the whole society developing industry and production. Each person has a different occupation, but each job is important to the bigger picture. The bigger picture and theme being that of a country in which everyone is working together to create a successful and harmonious civilization.

America is known as being diverse. There are so many different types of people and cultures in America. In the text of, A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood by Richard Rodriquez states, “They do not see to realize that a person is individualized in two ways. So they do not realize that, while one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by being assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality (38. Rodriguez). There are people in America that have their private individuality, which is where they live, like they United States. So people have their own individuality that makes them diverse. In the poem, I Hear America Singing by Walt Whitman explain how people have different jobs. Whitman talks about how the mechanics, carpenters, masons, boatman’s, and even more were singing. They all were doing the same thing but putting their own style into it. Everyone is not the same and America gets that everyone is

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.