Walt+Whitman

By: Walt Whitman
Summary: “I Hear America Sing” by Walt Whitman is about the different people of America and what they do. On the out side, this poem is about the people of America singing, but further reading this poem means that there are many people that make up our country. Each person does a different thing, but together they make up “the music of the U.S.,” meaning without each person doing their job, America wouldn’t be the way it is or work in perfect order. Walt Whitman uses anaphora with the repetition of “the” and “singing.” He also uses enjambed lines, which lets the reader know that the poem goes on and flows continuously till the end. Lastly, the poem is considered an extended metaphor to mean that each song is a person doing their customs or going through daily life making the song a complete piece of music when everyone works together.

Excerpts: “I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,” This is the very first line in “I Hear America Sing,” I took it to mean what the poem is about. Each American does their own thing or sings their own carol and together they make up the country or in the poems context makes up a song. “each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,” This line explains that each person does his or her own thing whether it’s a big, “strong” or small, “blithe” contribution. It also says, that the people know how they should sing meaning that each citizen knows if what they do is very meaningful or not as much.

Reflection: I liked this poem because in the present day, America has become a very diverse country with each person doing a different thing. I am pretty sure that when Walt Whitman wrote this America wasn’t like what it is now, but the poem probably still applied. I also, enjoyed how it was written as an extended metaphor because I never thought of America as a song with each person having his or her own part that together creates a piece of music.