Analysis and Response

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Project 2: Analysis and Response
Part A: Poem Analysis
The poet, Walt Whitman celebrates different songs in the poem I Hear America Singing that he hears other Americans singing while going about their daily activities. The poet’s focus is on the different people that make up the American workforce including the mason, the mechanics, the carpenter, the boatman, and shoemaker. Whitman offers the different workers to the readers in turns and in a manner that rhapsodizes but which avoids romanticizing. Whitman is particularly interested in the individuals belonging to the working class and who make up a significant portion of the American society. The poem does not only celebrate the individual workers, but it also celebrates life in general, emphasizing the need to find happiness and joy in our everyday lives. I Hear America Singing stands out as a patriotic song full of passionate and intense feelings and which also glorifies the daily American life with its vivacity, simplicity as well as variety.
At the beginning of the poem, Whitman states that “I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear (Line 1).” Here, the poet takes up a position that is also evident in his other poems by emphasizing his unique ability to see an ideal American society despite the varied differences among its people. Whitman gives a hint of the joy and merriment of being part of such a diverse society. The poet goes ahead to mention the diff…