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Walt Whitman's I Hear America Singing

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Whitman's devotion is evident in the sonnet, "I Hear America Singing." The poem is centered on loyalty, love for America, and love for Americans, with secondary elements of unification and religion. The speaker, Walt Whitman himself, claims to hear America chanting through various repetitions. Whitman's poem celebrates the diversity of the American people and their contributions to society. He portrays America as a nation of hardworking individuals united in their love for their country.

"What belongs to him or her and no one else" is what everyone enjoys. Even though each worker is doing something different, they are all happy because they are progressing toward their goals. Everyone enjoys what they do, whether it is a builder finishing …show more content…

The poem speaks to the experiences of black Americans and their struggle for equality in a society that often overlooked and oppressed them. Hughes uses powerful imagery and language to convey the message of hope and resilience in the face of adversity. He declares in the brief poem that he still sings like an American despite feeling forgotten and pushed away by the dominant members of society and describes how he felt like a neglected American citizen due to the color of his skin. The poem also highlights the struggle of African Americans during the time period, as they were not given the same rights and opportunities as their white counterparts. Hughes uses repetition to emphasize the importance of keeping going even when things are hard. (Berg, S. C. …show more content…

Both poems are about hearing voices, but Whitman's poem is about voices being heard, while Hughes' poem is about elevating voices so that one can hear and respond to the silenced voices of the black community. (Barnet et al., 2018) Hughes's poem is about his life, while Whitman's is about people's daily activities. In Walt Whitman's "I Hear America Singing," the writer hears the sounds of "the boatman," "the woodcutter," "the shoemaker," and even the women. Whitman says that "each singing" is unique and belongs to the people, and it is a way to show how beautiful the country is. "I, too, sing America" is an apparent reference to Whitman's "I Hear America Singing," which suggests that the ideal American person represents something unacceptable and racist. Hughes's poem is about his journey. "I, too, am American" shows that he has the right to be an American because he knows what it is like to be left out. Langston Hughes feels as though Whitman has forgotten him, so he declares, "I too sing America," "I too am America," and "I am the darker brother." Hughes thinks that Whitman's praise for the everyday lives of ordinary people does not recognize him. So, he cannot sing Whitman's "various carols." Instead, he must raise his voice against discrimination against African Americans. Hughes's song says, "I, too, am an American," and that he is part of this

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In “I Hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman, several literary devices are used that contribute to the theme of the poem. The theme of “I Hear America Singing” emphasizes the importance of celebrating the diverse voices that make up America. The theme also shows unity among the American workers as they show that they are thankful for their freedom to choose to work as whatever they would like in America. Some of the literary devices that contribute to the theme are personification, repetition, imagery, symbolism, and alliteration. Personification in “I Hear America Singing '' is used to portray America as singing.

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I Too Sing America By Countee Cullen Summary

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The poems “I, too, Sing America” by Langston Hughes and “Incident” by Countee Cullen were written during the Harlem Renaissance Era, a time when black Americans were beginning to realize their creativity. The poem by Langston Hughes is one of social circumstance that the speaker believes will lead to eventual triumph. The poem has five stanzas, with each stanza consisting of three lines. There is no rhyme scheme, and the title of the poem is ambiguous in relation to the content. Hughes refers to himself as “the darker brother” in the very first line of the poem, stating that he is sent to eat in the kitchen alone when company comes.

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They are both American poems about the american dream. They both talk about people in both poems. They also use imagery, for example in Langston Hughes poem he says “ I am the young manful of strength and hope. The purpose of I HAS was for americans potential / ability to form a united body who happily fulfill their purpose through their task, and Langston Hughes wanted what Walt Whitman wrote about but he didnt so Langston wrote how he was being treated inspite of Walt Whitmans poem.

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Comparing I, Too Sing America And I Hear America Singing

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In American poetry, Langston Hughes’s “I, Too Sing America” and Walt Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing” are significant pieces that delve into the core of America from unique yet interrelated perspectives. Both poets provide profound reflections on America’s essence, touching upon themes such as inclusivity, identity, and the American Dream. This essay will carefully analyze and place these side by side, or, in other words, appose these poems, emphasizing both their commonalities and lack of similarities, with the aim of synthesizing insights to enrich our comprehension of American identity. Similarities:.. Both Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman depict America as a nation characterized by its diversity and unity, celebrating the multitude of voices and experiences that contribute to its identity. Meaning, the two poets offer contrasting yet complementary characterizations of America.

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While the two authors discuss similar subject matter, there are many differences that can be identified between these two literary works. Support 1: The first of many variations is related to the structure of writing used by the authors. For example, in "I Hear America Singing" Whitman writes in a sing song style, evident in the line, "I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear," while Hughes' treatment is more direct and abrasive as seen in the line, "They send me to eat in the kitchen." Further, in "I Hear America Singing," the sentences are long and flow easily into subsequent phrases, whereas "I,

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The tone of Langston Hughes’ poem “I, Too, Sing America” is determined and talks about how “tomorrow” he will do what he pleases instead of doing what his master

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In Walt Whitman’s poem “I Hear America Singing” the speaker of the poem refers to the freedom of expression and the acceptance of diversity in the United States. But above all, it shows that no matter how different people with their “varied carols,” they all are connected with a feeling of national pride. This poem would obviously not work for the world because the United States’ viewpoints on topics such as government and religion conflict with many other countries’ around the world. It seems as though the world would be much more peaceful if the United States let other countries be the way they are, with “Each person (country) singing what belongs to him or her and none else.” But, that is not the case, the United States imposes itself to

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The first stanza starts the poem off with a proclamation, one that invokes a sense of nostalgia for a better version of America that never truly came to be. The reader is immediately introduced to the fact that the author fails to believe that America has lived up to its full potential as he utilizes the word “again.” Hughes appears to want for America to once again be the kind of nation which is defined by a sense of opportunity and freedom for all peoples and for the country to once again embody the ideal of the American dream itself. Furthermore, line 5 of the poem reads “America was never America,” this voices what many people may feel, that America's ideals of equality, liberty, and freedom don’t seem to hold true. In lines 11-12 the Hughes references the Statue of Liberty, asking for it to be crowned “with no false patriotic wealth” (Hughes 12).

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Many of the people mentioned in the poem are born Americans getting treated differently as stated in (stanza 8) “I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek— And finding only the same old stupid plan Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.” Where there is no freedom, no equity, and prosperity at the cost of countless people being left behind, can’t be the dream they hope to perceive. Hughes stands on that America never was America to me put insight that he was never at peace with America, at least not the way he picture it.

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We are able to see this when Whitman says “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, 5-7). That quote shows how the people like doing there job. But in the poem “I, Too” it talks about racism and how he is going to overcome it, we can see this when Hughes states “Besides, They’ll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed(15-17)” this shows that he doesn 't care about what they think about him because he know that he is beautiful. This shows how the two poems are different by how they both have different stories and meanings behind the writing. They are different stories because the two talk about two different things like in “I Hear America Singing,” Whitman talks about how everyone loves what they do and want to sing because of it while in the poem “I, Too,” Hughes writes about racism and how he can overcome it, which shows how different the two poems

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In the poem, "I Hear America Singing" by Walt Whitman, shows the patriotic side of how America runs and the freedom that comes in America. It also shows a sense of individuality because of the different jobs that were available and how people are able to live. The tone and mood of the poem would show pride and appreciation of America and how different it is compared to other countries. Some poem technique used in this poem is repetition. Repetition is used throughout the whole poem as it shows the way America would be singing and the different ways it would sing.

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Hughes openly declared Walt Whitman as one of his favorite authors, so naturally he incorporated that into his writing. In “I, Too” he makes the connection in the first line with “I, Too, Sing America”. This is a direct reference to Walt Whitman’s poem “I Hear America Singing”. Whitman’s poem describes what America looks like by the way that Americans works, and this ultimately makes America unlike anywhere else. The descriptions of the different people forces a sense of pride into those who read the words, but when one reads “I, too” the emotion grows.

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The speaker displays his connection to the black heritage by stating that “They’ll see how beautiful I am” (line 16), and the last line of the poem “I, too, sing America” repeats the first line, but this time with more insistent tone. The speaker is stating the fact

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