Paper Summary:

This paper takes a look at Walt Whitman's "I Hear America Singing" and Langston Hughes' "I, too, sing America". According to the paper, both poems address the beauty of the many voices of Americans and express a feeling of optimism, while also reflecting the variety of the voices and a feeling of joy.

From the Paper:

"Whitman's "I Hear America Singing" is typical of his style in that it employs free verse and has an effusive spirit. The situation is that of a speaker who observes and listens to the "varied carols" of Americans. The speaker expresses delight at the voices of mechanics, carpenters, masons, boatmen, deck-hands, shoemakers, hatters, wood-cutters, ploughboys, mothers, and wives. Many of these images reflect the activity and bustle of a burgeoning America in 1860. There are obvious building and growth images in the work of "the carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam" and "the mason singing his as he makes ready for work." The mothers and wives, too, are building the future with their "delicious singing." The pervasive spirit of hopefulness in the poem is like beautiful music to the listener."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Academy of American Poets. "Reader's Guide to Langston Hughes." Retrieved 4/13/2006 from www.poets.org
• Kresh, David. "On Walt Whitman and I Hear America Singing." The Library of Congress, February 1, 2006. Retrieved 4/13/2006 from http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cocoon/ihas/html/whitman/whitman-about.html

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