Allen Ginsberg

What America means to someone is a greatly personal matter. With “I Hear America Singing” and “I, Too”, two artists give their views, and the poems, written years apart, pair well together. Whitman celebrates those who can sing, while Hughes speaks for those who are silenced. Whitman sails over flowing description, showing the tales of Americans in lush colors. Their calls spring from the text. Quilted together, the voices of ordinary America form a tapestry, made of workers. Idols are not…

In "I, Too," Langston Hughes is obviously in conversation with the earlier poem, Walt Whitman's "I Hear America Singing." Both poems explore the idea of American identity -- who and what is an American? What characterizes the people of this nation? The two poets, however, reach somewhat different conclusions in response to these questions. Whitman is known as the quintessential American poet, in part due to poems like this one. Whitman's "Song of Myself" positions the individual at the center,…

The poem “Song of Myself” is to deliver the idea of the self and its individuality. Both are conveyed through Whitman’s words and even questions the reader about their own individuality. Whitman’s poetry is supposed to convey that the reader is not alone, it is important to find one’s self, and their challenges of working on one’s mind. In the poem, “Song of Myself” there is significant amount of detail. Whitman’s writing in this poem is creative because he is talking about himself directly at…

Walt Whitman wrote a collection of poems in one of his books. Poems, such as, “Song of Myself.” These poems are interesting and well written. His sixth poem in his “Leaves of Grass,” talks about death. He uses different ways to describe how grass relates to death and uses metaphors to relate grass to different objects. There are many examples of him showing how grass relates to death. First, a child asks Walt Whitman “What is grass,” but he does not know any more than the child does about grass…

Walt Whitman Walt Whitman (1819-1892) was an American poet and journalist. Whitman was born May 31st, 1819 in West Hills, New York. He was considered one of America’s most influential poets. In 1855, Whitman self-published one of the landmarks in American literature today, the collection Leaves of Grass which has been revised and expanded throughout his life. Whitman's poetry was different in style from that of any poet in his Era. In his poetry, his use of linguistic styles, metaphors, and…

The poems “I Hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman and “I Too” written by Langston Hughes each express similar and different attitudes towards America. Both writers each have their own perceptions of America that they have written about in their poems.The attitude expressed in “I Hear America Singing” and “I Too” are both wanting equality along with the poem “I Too” wanting to end racism. There are some major differences perceived in both these poems on the author’s perspective on America. One…

Whitman and Hughes Comparison Essay The two poems we have studied and analyzed, Walt Whitman’s “I hear America Singing” and Langston Hughes’ “Let America be America Again”, each have very different central meanings. Both poems show the authors’ outlooks on America, Whitman’s being positive, and Hughes’ being negative. The tone and diction that each of these very successful authors choose to use in their writing come together to create the central message and the mood of the poems,…

This reading tells about Americans poets of the nineteenth century, and how these poets laid an important and cultural foundation for American poetry. These different writers developed an audience for poetry in the United States. It begins focusing on two main poets. These poets are Whitman and Dickinson, they overshadowed all the other poets during this century. Walt Whitman was an American poet, essayist, and journalist. During his time of writing he was part of the transition between…

A modernist by trade, William Carlos Williams works with other artists in an effort to start and perpetuate a new movement. Working within the constraints that focused on breaking free from past restrictions and conscriptions with an eye towards current events and cultural influences, Williams is building something beautifully simplistic in his poetry. Towards the beginning of his efforts in poetry Williams’ underlines the fears associated with the cultural change to modernism, and the prevalent…

Various songs have been sung about America and how beautiful she is, but rarely is there a poem that describes the voices of those songs. In I Hear America Singing (1860), Walt Whitman conveys his concept of America as a unified nation. His poem explores the differing sort of people that Whitman contributes to creating America. They are exuberant, and strong. Although the poem is focused on the people, the title of the poem, I Hear America Singing, shows that Whitman thinks of these people as…