I Hear American Singing

“I Hear American Singing”

Walt Whitman

1. What Whitman has in mind here are not the actual work songs associated with various trades and kinds of physical labor but something more subtle. What would you say is the real theme of this poem? What is the speaker saying about the American people? Which Transcendental philosophy does this theme seem to support?

HINT: Consider line 2. Why does the speaker say that each person’s singing “should be blithe and strong”?

2. Define catalog. How is this a catalog? List the different types of workers Whitman catalogs. What do the workers have in common?

3. Do the “songs” express a positive/realistic aspect of American life during the nineteenth century? Why or why not?

4. Which of the characteristics listed on the PowerPoint appear in this poem?