Woody Guthrie's 'This Land Is Your Land'

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.

The poem “This Land is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie is originally a seven stanza poem that is often cut short in the recorded versions known to many. The poem’s main element is imagery of America’s landmarks to exorcise an emotion out of the reader. The first four stanzas have a much more celebratory tone compared to the final three. The last three stanzas are cut out, so as to not dampen the joyful tone of the song. The tone of the work takes a more serious tone in the last three stanzas, which are often edited out from recorded versions.

In this paper I will be talking about the similarities and differences in the two different poems. The two poems were written by two incredible poets and were probably one of the best in their lifetimes. The first poem is written by Walt Whitman and is called “ I Hear America Singing”. The other poem is by Langston Hughes and is called “I, Too, Sing America” .Many people believe that Langston Hughes wrote his poem “I, Too, Sing America” in response to Walt Whitman's poem “ I Hear America Singing”. Some people have a completely opposite opinion and say that the two poems have nothing to with each other. Langston Hughes did many things in his life. Some of them include being an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and a

America is a country that has been through many different times of trials. Wars and disease have spread across that nation several times. During times of depression, though, a group of people seems to always emerge from the destruction. That group of people are the poets and writers of America. Through trial and strife, writers are able to find inspiration for their works, and are able to give readers hope for a better day. Walt Whitman was an amazing writer who wrote several poems concerning the great United States of America, talking about the people that have built the nation up from the dust. But, a group of people that Whitman forgot to write about on most occasions were the slaves and black people of which America thrived. Langston Hughes was a black man in the 20th century that took note of Whitman's poems, and their lack of recognition towards his people. Whitman wrote a poem called, "I Hear America Singing," in which Hughes wrote the poem, "I, Too Sing America," in response. In the poem by Hughes, there are several different ways that the writing interlaces with Walt Whitman's.

For the longest time in American history racism has always existed to some certain extent. In the poem “Open Letter to the south” by Langston Hughes is about the inequality of people and how we should all come together as one no matter you skin color. In the Poem “Let America be America Again” also by Langston Hughes is from the perspective of a low class black man and expresses his difficulties. Both “Open Letter to the south” and “let America Be America again” compares the longings for acceptance, hope, and the future.

Woody Guthrie was the most famous singers in the USA in the 1900s. His most famous song is This Land is Your Land. He sang this song all across America to encourage hundreds of poor people. Also, his quotes say that he hates songs that make people feel bad. The quotes and song are similar and different.

“I Hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman and “Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes. Whitman and Hughes both mention the love for the America dream. There are many similarities and differences between the two poems. They both are describing what was happening in America one in mid 1800’s and one mid 1900’s what was happening during this time was finally abolished slavery in the south & the Civil Rights Movement.

illustrate the grandeur of American nation at large and ‘I Too Sing America’ is a poem which

Nothing is more fascinating nor more compelling than the study of our own human condition. Often the most enthralling and alluring way of expressing the human condition can be found within the very literature we read, in particular, poetry. Poems are an expression of art; a way to simultaneously condense emotions in the pursuit of an ideal. One ideal of particular note is inspiration. So let me ask you this: if we live in a world where inspiration is so easy to come by through poetry, why is our world plagued with inequality and injustice? Why is it the case that race relations, racism and bigotry are never far from the surface? That, ladies and gentlemen, is my question to you. I’m your host James Pullen – welcome to Peace and Poetry.

As we started to talk in class we were presented with the other part of the song that shinded a light on the reality of the land we are a part of. In the song it states “As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking, Is this land made for you and me”(Guthrie 5). This shows just how easy someone can be folded by a false reality. I thought the statement

Dylan and the Sympathetic Beat For an artist so dedicated to innovation and originality, Bob Dylan is particularly obsessed with his influences. Indeed, if T.S. Elliot’s observation that “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different.” (114) is true, it may very well be the source of his success as an innovator in the music industry. The most famous of such obsessions was with Woody Guthrie, and Dylan’s pilgrimage to visit the dying musician in Brooklyn State Hospital, which is documented in his poem Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie.

In his poem, let America be America again, Hughes focuses on American freedom and equality. His concern was on the socio-economic division in the American society. Relating the American declaration at independence, Hughes observes that the road to achievement of equality and freedom lost. The country has become corrupt and its leaders and businessmen are greedy. The grabbed land and gold making them wealthier during the common American citizen; the Negros, red Indians, the poor whites and immigrants lavish in poverty (Schmidt, and Lynne, 776). They have not achieved the American promise of freedom. Hughes wrote the poem with the

Arguably the most inspirational musician of the twentieth century, Woody Guthrie earned nation-wide success and popularity. His music proved honest and full of hope, which greatly encouraged America as she struggled through war, the Great Depression, and devastating dust bowls. Music transports us to happier places, and Guthrie’s music did just that for everyone across the nation. Writing about anything and everything, Guthrie translated his experiences and encounters into poetry. Reflections of the time period, in the language of his day, give Guthrie’s music an unblemished charm. He wrote music in a time popularity was based off of how many people were whistling your music as they worked, not the number of ITunes downloads you acquired. Woody Guthrie truly embodied the essence of the American poet and used his experiences and personality to deepen the content of his art.

Woody Guthrie once said, “ I’m out to fight those songs to my very last breath of air and my last drop of blood. Woody Guthrie was a folk singer who sang songs all over the usa “ What Woody Guthrie trying to say is that he will never give up singing songs about building people up . That is what the song “ This Land is Your Land “ that is written 1940 wrote is about .The song and the quote are similar and different in many ways.

Langston Hughes’s “Let America Be America Again” is a poem that could be endlessly applied to where America stands today. This poem illustrates the morals, ideas, and visions set forth by those who found this country and how America has begun straying from those principles. The poem expresses that America is made up of all walks of people and that no man should be crushed by those above him, but rather be given the same opportunity as those above him. Hughes desire to make America great again can be shared in some way or another by most Americans making this poem everlasting. “Let America Be America Again” has the personalization, the language, the connection shared by every American, and the rhyme to allow readers of every race, gender, or religious belief to be brought together as not only people but as Americans.