Walt Whitman's I Hear America Singing

In 2013, a high school choir sang a song in tribute to the military. Several members of the 200-person choir had family members who were at the time deployed, at one time been deployed or had given their lives for the country they loved. Others had members of the police force or firefighting. The song was titled "Song for unsung hero." The director wanted to find a way to connect each individual to this song, to connect the audience not only to the song but the choir itself. The music was written in such a way that in some parts there were seven different harmonies being sung alongside the melody. The power of one could have done the trick, but the meanings and parts that each individual of that choir was singing, is what took it from separation to a collective identity. The people they were singing about is what united the group of students, the audience and the heroes they were singing for. Similarly, Walt Whitman's poem "I Hear America Singing" is a unique view on America's sense of individuality. This individuality is expressed through an almost seemingly contradiction of the

The America we know today has come along way from what it was in 1800's.Although so many things have changed some for better or worst, there are certain factors that stay consistent till this day.In Walt Whitman's "I Hear America Singing" he describes his view and perception on the America he lived through.Then years later Langston Hughes recreated this in a poem he titled "I Too" which gives his version of the way he feels about America with a more sort of modern feel.

The mid 19th century was an exciting time in United States History. America was expanding, and some settlers were headed to the western shores of the continent in hopes of a better life, and for some to follow their dream of striking gold. On the other hand, African Americans were held captive, dreaming of their emancipation, and the women suffrage movement had just begun. Meanwhile, the American poet, Walt Whitman wrote, “Facing West from California Shores”, a short lyrical poem, in the year 1860. He included the poem in a collection called Leaves of Grass, which he self-published in the year 1855. Whitman demonstrated his highly artistic expression of sentiment with the irregular style of free verse; moreover, the poems tonality guides the reader to the sensibility of the speaker’s doubtfulness of ever receiving justification. In the poem “Facing West from California’s Shores”, Walt Whitman, uses the speaker to adopt the new world’s persona, he then uses the speaker to associate the imagery of the coastlands, along with word choice and order to incite an extension of civil liberties to American minorities, during the 19th century.

I Hear America Singing is a patriotic poem written by Walt Whitman released during his lifetime. In the poem Whitman emphasizes American individualism and attempts to explain how such a nation, so focused on the individual, comes together as one great, unified, hardworking force. He explains all this adequately using sound devices, diction, and the theme of the poem.

Walt Whitman was considered one of America’s most influential poets. He was born on May 31, 1819 in New York. He grew up in a family that had so much love for America; therefore his poems reflected his love for America and the nature of the American experience and its democracy. He published about 300 poems in the collection of Leaves of Grass; it became one of the most popular collections in the history of American Literature. Each poem represents Whitman’s honor of his attitude towards life and humanity. During the Civil War, Whitman, moved to Washington D.C. where his brother was fighting for the Union. He stayed there for several years helping wounded soldiers. Due to Whitman’s love for America, after the Civil War he continued visiting

Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, by Walt Whitman, is a poem about a man who takes the Brooklyn ferry home after his work day. At first glance one may say “How can this long poem really be about a ferry?” Once you get reading you realized there is much more to it then riding the Brooklyn Ferry. This poem deals with the idea that all humans are united in the harmonies of life because we all share the same land. This poem describes the relationship between human beings.

In I Hear America Singing, Whitman shows the reader the renowned diversity in the U.S. by giving his different characters different occupations. Whitman also provides each one of this poem’s characters with an individual singing voice, unique and set apart from the rest in their own ways. Each person having their own singing voice is a hint at individualism, where everyone should be their own person, and avoid giving into a society that begs for conformity and punishes those who stand alone. The widespread happiness included here also pushes individualistic people by basically stating one would be happier being their own person (Lehman). Being oneself means that making good impressions on strangers is mostly useless. One would not be required to harmonize themselves with the rest of society. Whitman’s depictions of joyous people singing happily, seemingly without a care in the world, is supposed to interest the reader in individualism more (“I Hear America Singing” 153). I Hear America Singing is not the only poem he has written that alludes to his individualistic thoughts. Cavalry Crossing a Ford, is a small poem that paints a picture in the reader’s mind of a group of soldiers and horses crossing a ford peacefully. In this story the men are all in a group together as one. Even though they are there for one cause, and are frequently forgotten of, each soldier has “a picture”

In his poem, “Song of Myself,” Walt Whitman disregards the traditional, narrow minded, and systematic structure of poetry in exchange for a liberated and unrestricted point of view that represents a utopian democracy. Whitman’s objective of diversifying ideas on life and extinguishing the boundaries between contrasting individuals regardless of social status, age, or location formulate a style of writing that is dedicated to uplifting all of nature’s organisms. Whitman’s poem questions the boundaries of what know to be realism by eradicating the borders we have between humans and God, the self and others, life and death, and harmonizing humans, animals, and individuals from all walks of life. These are things we tend to isolate and disconnect.

Of this, he writes, “The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck, The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands (Whitman). In this, he is reflecting on people being fully engrossed in their job, doing what they are meant to be doing, and enjoying the little things about their life. This is, of course, a reimagining of the American Dream and what makes it so pure. He does not focus on ideation around the concept of wealth. He does not propose that to be pure is to reach some unattainable standard.

Walt Whitman was an American poet born in May 31, 1819 in New York, and he died in March 26, 1892 in New Jersey. He grew up going to school in separate facilities from people of color, so he was growing up along with the nation. He was self-taught by exploring things for himself, for example, going to the museums when he could. Whitman as a young boy alternated from being in the city to being in the countryside with his grandparents. He was exposed to be being self-reliant at a young age. His writings were influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson, which lead him to having a collection of unnamed poems, and one of them was “Song of Myself”.

In the opening line of Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself,” it becomes immediately evident that his song is not about himself, but about the entire human race: “I celebrate myself, and sing myself, and what I assume you shall assume, / for every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you”. His poem extols the mundane aspects of everyday life that a traditional poet of his day would not have considered worthy of poetic material. The meaning of his poem is best expressed in a quote from the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain

Many of Whitman’s poems address the issue of freedom in the society, a lot of which were influenced by his personal life. His orientation toward the ideal life is underscored through the poem, I Hear America Singing,

When thinking of an American poet a person’s first thought will be of Walt Whitman. This is no accident or act of fate. Whitman purposely aimed to become a True Poet for America, as described by Ralph Waldo Emerson’s“The Poet”. He did this through his elements and themes of his poetry which transformed him into an eternal man, and speaker of all people. Whitman’s poem “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” not only portrays these aspects of him but also shows how he is a Transcendentalist through the themes of time, human connectivity, and beauty.