Walt Whitman's I Hear America Singing

Not all people enjoy reading or listening to poetry. Some people essentially hate it, these individuals close their eyes and ears before the poem is read and don’t take anything from it. We will use Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing” as an attempt to reopen the eyes, and unlock the ears of those poetry fiends.
“I Hear America singing, the varied carols I hear” “I hear” in a sense helps to stress the importance of the speaker’s role in the poem. Everything that runs between “I hear” is filtered through the speaker and defines his/her experience. This poem is dependent of the speaker on the conscious level to gain understanding. “I hear America singing,” is a metaphor that is introduced in the first line. The speaker imagines America as the culmination of the voices of the American people who are unique individuals.
The speaker begins to record several figures or individuals familiar to American people during this time.
Each person is defined by his profession; they are also singing and conveying their own uniqueness. Each person is of the working class and is shown working throughout the day. These characters, giving in to the controlling metaphor, are representatives of “America.” Seeing the figures from other socioeconomic classes that the poem overlooks, it becomes obvious that the speaker is offering a particular idea of America. Even though the poem puts forth the ideal of government as by and for the people, the instances of American people are narrowed to those from within the working class. It could be said that the speaker denies figures from other classes a place in the poem, and consequently in America. By placing himself within the poem, the speaker asserts his own position in this vision of America. This poem in turn becomes his song, his work, his distinct contribution to the larger chorus that is
America.
“The delicious singing of the mother--or of the young wife at work--or of the girl sewing or washing--Each singing what belongs to her, and to none else. “This line is interesting seeing the historical situation in which the poem was written. By including the mother, the young wife, and sewing girl, Whitman shows that women are given their owed place in the working class and recognizes their influence to American society and culture during a time before women had equal rights to men—when they had no voice in government. The poem hence forestalls an idea of America much more immediate to the one that is held in modern times, in which women are seen and valued for their undeniable contributions both in and outside the home and in which parenting is regarded as an essential occupation.
“The day what belongs to the day--At night, the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing, with open mouths, their strong melodious songs. “Up until this point, all figures have been described as involved in several forms of work or have been represented in relativeness to his or her respective vocation. The speaker opens his scope at the end of the poem outside this work identity, encompassing the poem’s definition of self and individualism.