I Hear America Singing: Themes

Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

The American Spirit of Individualism

The speaker of “I Hear America Singing” celebrates individualism as a cornerstone of the American national spirit. Indeed, much of the poem is driven by the speaker’s invocation of a variety of individuals, all pursuing different types of work. Hence, we hear about “the carpenter” (line 3), “the mason” (line 4), “the boatman” (line 5), “the shoemaker” (line 6), and so on, each of whom sings their own “song.” Near the poem’s end, the speaker again reminds us that all the individuals mentioned in the poem are “singing what belongs to him or her and to none else” (10). This emphasis on individual ownership suggests related concepts of self-possession and autonomy. Indeed, what makes all those mentioned in the poems individuals is that they are fundamentally in possession of themselves, which means they also have autonomy in both thought and action. Though each of these individuals may belong to a larger society, what’s of primary importance is the fact of their self-possessed freedom. Such freedom is the ideological bedrock of the America the speaker celebrates throughout.

The Strength of the Collective

Although the speaker spends the bulk of the poem emphasizing the work of individuals, their broader vision encompasses the collective whole those individuals comprise: America. The speaker implies as much already in the poem’s opening line: “I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear.” This line establishes a clear connection between the “varied carols” of individual singers, and the collective chorus of “singing” that results in the larger formation called “America.” The rest of the poem develops this connection by suggesting how the accumulation of many individuals’ distinct songs swells into a collective chorus. The speaker initially creates a sense of accumulation in lines 2–8, simply by listing various individuals. In the poem’s final lines, however, the speaker puts forward an explicit vision of men sing together: “at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly, / Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs” (lines 10–11). Note the adjectives the speaker uses here, and particularly to the words “robust” and “strong.” What makes these men’s songs robust and strong is due in part to their individual merit, but even more to their collective capacity. This group of young men thus represents the robustness and strength of America as a whole.

The Productive Value of Labor

It’s noteworthy that the speaker identifies all the individuals referenced in the poem not by their name but by their occupation. The speaker’s emphasis on occupation over any other personal characteristic suggests that each individual’s value doesn’t lie primarily in their intrinsic worth as human beings. Instead, their chief value lies in the ways they can be productive for society at large. This form of value is determined by the kind of skills each person has, which is to say it’s determined by the type of labor they can perform. Most of the occupations named by the speaker involve physical labor. Recall that Whitman wrote the poem in the nineteenth century, when most forms of physical labor were grueling. Furthermore, factory work was spirit-crushing, seafaring was hazardous, and farming was downright backbreaking. Despite their inherent dangers and challenges, these and other occupations mentioned in the poem were necessary for managing the rapid growth America was experiencing at the time. These and other forms of productive labor were therefore highly valued. And it’s precisely this value that the speaker celebrates when they spotlight many different laborers and underscore the distinct contributions they make to the nation.

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