The speaker of “I Hear America Singing” offers no concrete details about their age, gender, social class, or occupation. However, it’s clear that whoever the speaker is, they are someone who possesses a broad perspective on the growing nation. In fact, their perspective is so broad that it would appear to encompass all of America—both its various peoples and its varied landscapes. The speaker is very much engrossed in the task of accounting for the wide range of experiences and livelihoods that, together, make America. If the speaker is engaged in an act of accounting, it’s because they are motivated by a deeply felt optimism about the nation. This optimism emerges in their insistence that each of the many “songs” sung by different Americans is “strong” and “melodious” (line 11). Although the speaker doesn’t say so outright, they seem to imply that each of these strong and melodious tunes work in perfect harmony with each other. Such harmony is implied most clearly in their use of the word “carols” (line 1), which has religious undertones and specifically designates songs of joy. The speaker therefore celebrates the great promise represented by the burgeoning nation of America.

It’s worth mentioning that, for some modern readers, Whitman’s speaker may prove too optimistic. Their vision of a perfectly harmonious America admits no possibility of conflict. That is, it offers an idealized perspective that overlooks the various tensions that might bring dissonance into the otherwise mellifluous song of the nation. Some of these tensions relate to the individual lives of the laborers mentioned by the speaker. Many of these figures are engaged in grueling occupations that require dangerous forms of physical labor. The suggestion that these men’s songs are “strong” (line 11) rather than spiritually exhausted may be rather presumptuous on the speaker’s part. Another tension the speaker overlooks is particularly conspicuous, considering the extent to which this tension dominated the American political economy in the nineteenth century. That is, the speaker overlooks the tensions caused by slavery. When we recall that Whitman wrote “I Hear America Singing” on the eve of the American Civil War, the speaker’s optimism may strike us as that much more idealizing. In other words, it may seem as if the speaker is working extra hard to convince others—and perhaps themself—of America’s great promise.