I Hear America Singing By Hongston Hughes Analysis

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.

Both Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman are regarded as some of the finest poets in a long list of excellent American poets. Hughes, a poet during the Harlem Renaissance era of American poetry, often wrote of the struggles of African Americans in his poetry. A common theme of Harlem Renaissance poetry was discussing the struggles and advancements of African Americans in terms of social justice. Walt Whitman wrote his poetry in the period of transition from transcendentalism and realism. His works can be seen to incorporate elements of both styles. Walt Whitman was also a humanist, and this can also be readily seen in his many works. Both Langston Hughes’ “Let America Be America Again” and Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” tackle the idea of oneself within a larger collective group. However, Hughes speaks from the African American viewpoint at the time. Hughes relies on more specific imagery, while Whitman incorporates imagery that is more generalized. Each of the authors uses imagery in similar yet individually effective ways, covers a similar theme with respective viewpoints, and uses different tones to cover how an individual effectively fits into a collective.

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.

        One of the most noticable similarities between the two pieces of poetry, "I Hear America Singing", and "I, Too, Sing America", is the theme of unity. Both poems express what America is, and that is the people in America. Whitman's poem however, doesn't include blacks in his poem, but all other kinds of people. Hughes', poem makes it so that he is included. For example, Whitman's poem celebrates, "The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,

The two poems also share a lot of similarities. The first and most obvious similarity is the titles. The two titles "I Hear America Singing" and "I, Too, Sing America" both have America singing, or singing about America. In the two poems the poets talk about what they think America is at the time they lived. In Walt Whitman`s he talks about how Americans work together and do good at their jobs to make a great country. In the poem by Hughes he talks about what is wrong with how Americans think discrimination is right and he wants America to be like the way Whitman described it which is Americans helping each other build and sustain their country. The two poets have a lot of love for their country and really want to see America as a safe and unified country.

My background as a tenacious student and a minority has allowed me to connect to the poem in ways that I could very much relate to. I have personally lived through the motions of life that he refers to in “Theme for English b”.Langston Hughes’s poem is more about the differences he knows other people see in him or rather on him, and what they are missing. By doing this, Hughes make it clear that the color of his skin plays a crucial role in the way that people think he is like. He finishes by boldly stating what he had been

Langston Hughes wrote a poem that some believe is in response to a poem Walt Whitman made. Walt Whitman’s poem “I hear America Singing” is basically a description of the people who made up America at the time. The mothers, the carpenters, the masons, the shoemakers, the wood cutters, etc, were all the different types of people that made up what America, said of the poem. With Langston Hughes's poem “I, Too, Sing America”, the poem is making a sort of claim that Hughes’s and blacks alike also have a right to feel patriotic towards and be a part of America. Both poems are pretty similar to what they’re subject is (America), but they are quite different when it comes to what exactly the two poems are mainly focusing on.

Langston Hughes, “I too, Sing America” chronicles an African-American male’s struggle with patriotism in an age of inequality and segregation in the United States. The poem cleverly uses metaphors to represent racial segregation faced by African-Americans during the early twentieth century. The speaker presents a battle cry for equality and acceptance, and his words are a plea and a declaration for nationalism and patriotism. Although, the poem does not directly imply racism, the speaker’s language suggests that he equates the kitchen to racial discrimination by the general American society. His word usage signals his wish to participate in a land that he proudly claims as his own despite his personal experiences of rejection. Despite

     In order for a person to really understand how Mr. Hughes’s life shaped his poetry, one must know all about his background. In this paper, I will write a short biography of Hughes’s life and tell how this helped accent his

Diction plays a large role in in conveying deep meaning within the two poems. Both writers use figurative and emotional vocabulary throughout each line. In “I Too, Sing America”, Hughes begins the first line using a figurative metaphor, “I too am the darker brother / They send me to eat in the kitchen” (Hughes 1-2). When Hughes refers to the narrator as the darker brother, the metaphor is actually referring the the African American community, not just a singular person. The second metaphor in line 2 attributes to the social divide and mistreatment between whites and blacks. This method of writing is mirrored in McKay’s “America”, “Although she feeds me bread of bitterness / And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth” (McKay 1-2 ). The diction McKay chooses to use, urges readers to empathize a feeling of sorrow and animosity towards America. He does this by using words such “bitterness” and “sinks into my throat”.

In this essay I will be talking about the differences between Walt Whitman's poem “ I Hear America Singing” and Langston Hughes poem “ I, Too, Sing America”. I will also be giving my opinion on whether or not Langston Hughes is responding to Walt Whitman's poem. Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and a columnist from Joplin, Missouri. Walt Whitman was an American poet, essayist, and a journalist from West Hills, New York. This is all just background information about the two poets jobs and of where they came from. In the poem “ I Hear America Singing” Walt Whitman talks about lots of different types of jobs and of their distinctive carols. He talks of mechanics and how their singing is blithe and

Walt Whitman was an American poet whose free verse brought a new style and uniqueness to American poetry. “Free verse is poetry organized according to the cadences of speech and image patterns rather than according to a regular metrical scheme. The meter is irregular and its rhythms are based on patterned elements such as sounds, words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs, rather than on the traditional units of metrical feet” (“Free Verse Encyclopedia” 1). You can see his free verse style through his literary works such as “Leaves of Grass” and “Song of Myself”.

In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by

Whitman was able to change people’s views on life and was able to give people something that they wanted and were looking for in his creation of a new writing style. His writing about real life experiences connected him well with the common man, which is another aspect of the Romantic period. Whitman is also thought of as the “father of free verse.” He enjoyed using free verse because it could further distinguish him from other writers of the past, and of his time.

The first line of I, Too - “I, too, sing America” - is the speaker’s declaration that he is American. But who is he replying to - why does he “too” sing America? And why does he “sing America?” Why can’t it just say “I am American?” First of all, it’s important to establish that Hughes’s writing was inspired by Walt Whitman, whom many view as the father of American poetry (Ward). In Whitman’s poem I hear America Singing, the first line immediately shows a parallel of I, Too: “I hear America singing.” On the other