The theme of singing is introduced in the title (and, for that matter, in the very first line) of the poem. The speaker announces "I Hear America Singing!" Okay, so you've got us: Whitman doesn't use an exclamation point in the title, but he might as well have. This dude loves to hear Americans sing while they work. While all the people in the poems sing different songs while doing different jobs, the very fact of their singing unites them in a common enterprise: working to build America. In "I Hear America Singing," music brings people together.
Questions About Art and Culture: Music
- Is the singing in the poem actual or metaphorical? How do you know?
- By focusing so much on singing, is the speaker ignoring other aspects of the lives of working Americans? Aren't some of these jobs difficult, or even dangerous?
- Why do you think that the workers in the poem feel such ownership over both their work and their songs? Why is the singing almost always described with a "his" or "hers" that suggests ownership?
Chew on This
Walt Whitman may have loved a good tune, but his poem is way too focused on singing. His portrait of work is really inaccurate; working on a steamboat is hard work, after all.
Music is something that unites us all, whether we are seamstresses or masons. Singing is something that we all can do, whether we're taking care of the kids at home or chopping wood.