I Hear America Singing

COURSE : AMERICAN
LITERATURE
COURSE CODE: 16ACCEN11
UNIT : II
TOPIC : I HEAR AMERICA SINGING
AND A BIRD CAME DOWN
THE WALK
Course Instructor
Mrs. P. Subha
Assistant Professor
Department of English
I HEAR AMERICA
SINGING
-Walt Whitman
WALT WHITMAN
ABOUT AUTHOR
◦ Whitman was born May 31, 1819 & lived at a
faliterature Hills, Long Island.
◦ Young Walt, the 2nd of 9, was withdrawn from

school at 11 to help support the family.
◦ After school, he worked as an office clerk and a

teacher.
◦ Considered one of the top 5 poets of American

literature.
◦ He also was a medic during the civil war.

After finishing school at 11 he never returned to education.
He studied independently the works of Sir Walter Scot, Shakespeare, Homer,
and Dante, the Bible and, ancient Hindu poetry.
He worked first at a printmaking job.
In 1836, at the age of 17, he began his career as a teacher in school houses of
Long Island.
He continued to teach school until 1841, when he turned to journalism as a

full-time career.
I HEAR AMERICA SINGING
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it would be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on
the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,
The woodcutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the morning, or at
noon intermission or at sundown,
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 him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day --- at night the party of young fellows,
robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.
INTRODUCTION
Walt Whitman is a free verse innovator and
reformer of American poetry.
 His primary ideas are people’s closeness to
nature and kinship of a person with all people and
all phenomena of the world.
Moreover, he gained fame as the first
nationwide poet in the United States.
An industrial theme, meaningful for an average
American citizen, he occupies a central niche in
Whitman’s work.
THEME
I Hear America Singing displays an idealized vision of the American
working class’s life.
The plot smoothly shifts from the urban atmosphere to the country.
From the coast to the sea, acquainting readers with various
occupations, such as masons, farmers, mechanics, woodcutters,
shoemakers, carpenters, and housewives.
Moving through these professions, the poet gradually determines
their main tasks
Thus, Whitman depicts the picture of America as a place where
every person can find fulfillment, dignity, and delight in honest labor
and its outcomes.
This idea was close to Whitman since he was born in a house
builder’s poor family.
He had to change many professions, including messenger, teacher,
reporter, and journalist..
FEATURES OF POEM
The writer is telling you something—showing you something:
 “Look at this" or "Think about this."
There's a beginning and an end to a list poem, like in a story:
 It has an introduction and a conclusion.
The list poem is created from a list of persons, places, things or ideas which
have a common denominator.
The endings of the lines in a list poem don’t usually rhyme.

About the Poem
“I Hear America Singing” is a free verse
poem written by About 140 years ago to
think about American history.
This poem was written not long after the

Civil War—after the assassination of
Abraham Lincoln.
Summary
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
 The author heard America singing in 1870.
 He heard the varieties of songs.
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it would be
mechanics means someone who repairs things, builds things blithe and strong,
blithe means happy, carefree
 American men after the Civil War, each person singing his own song, working,
repairing, building and feeling happy and strong.
 The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
 By measuring his wood or roof the carpenter singing the

song.
 The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or

leaves off work,
 Mason was singing the song while doing his work and he
sings the song after the completion of his work
 The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the

deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,
 By sitting on the deck of steamboat the boatman and his

servant were singing the song.
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter
singing as he stands,
Shoemaker was singing the song by Sitting on the bench.
Hat man was singing the song while he was standing to sell
his hats.
The woodcutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the

morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,
Famer was singing the song while doing his work in the
field.
He sings the song in the morning and in break and after the
completion of his work.
He was singing the song to come out of his tiredness.

The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl
sewing or washing,
Mother was singing the while doing his work.
Young wife, Sewing girl and Washing girl were singing their own songs.
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
They all singing their own songs.
They were not copying the other songs.

The day without belongs to day at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
They were singing the songs in day and night.
They were singing about their young person and their robust and friendly attitude.
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.
All were singing their own songs in open mouth without fear.
CONCLUSION
The overarching idea of the poem is that each person has a role and a voice.
They belongs only to that person, but when added to the roles and voices of all
other Americans, helps piece together the puzzle that is America.
All the singers, Whitman says, have a place; whether it’s during the daytime
or the night.
A BIRD CAME DOWN THE WALK
-Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson
A BIRD CAME DOWN THE WALK
A Bird, came down the Walk -
He did not know I saw -
He bit an Angle Worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw,
And then, he drank a Dew
From a convenient Grass -
And then hopped sidewise to the Wall
To let a Beetle pass-

He glanced with rapid eyes,
That hurried all abroad -
They looked like frightened Beads, I thought,
He stirred his Velvet Head. -
Like one in danger, Cautious,

I offered him a Crumb,
And he unrolled his feathers,
And rowed him softer Home -
Than Oars divide the Ocean,

Too silver for a seam,
Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon,
Leap, plashless as they swim.
Introduction
‘A Bird, came down the Walk’ by Emily Dickinson is a beautiful nature poem.
It focuses on the actions of a bird going about its everyday life.
One will also immediately take note of her characteristic capitalizations and
dashes, over which literary scholars are divided.
 In this particular poem, the dashes only appear at the ends of the lines.
This might have been done to elongate a pause before a reader moves to the
next line.
ABOUT THE POEM
“A Bird came down the Walk” is a short poem by Emily Dickinson (1830–
1886) that tells of the poet’s encounter with a worm-eating bird.
The poem was first published in 1891 in the second collection of Dickinson’s
poems.
It is the realistic poem.
This poem says the general thing.

THEME
A key theme of ‘A Bird, came down the Walk’ is the
importance and power of nature.
The speaker is fascinated by the bird’s behavior and uses
personification throughout the poem to explore the power of
nature and what she feels it means.
 Dickinson uses the juxtaposition of the bird eating the
worm contrasted against the bird fleeing when the speaker
approaches to show the delicate balance of nature.
 one can be both predator and prey at the same time.
In doing so, Dickinson explores the simultaneous conditions
of danger and peacefulness that are evoked by nature.
Meaning of the poem
‘A Bird, came down the Walk’ is about the simultaneous beauty and brutality of nature.
 The speaker’s experience with the bird shows the delicate harmony that exists in
nature between beauty and danger, and this is reflected in the poem’s form and content.
A Bird, came down the Walk’ follows a common form found in many of Emily
Dickinson’s works.
While there is no set form (such as an ode or sonnet), the poem is similar to a ballad
because of its rhythm, rhyme scheme and meter.
Ballads are typically sung, and their sing-song like quality is achieved through rhymes
(alternating rhymes or rhyming couplets) and the use of the iambic foot.
STRUCTURE OF THE POEM
There are five stanzas in ‘A Bird, came down the
Walk’. The stanzas are quatrains, as each stanza is
comprised of four lines.
Stanza One:
 In the first stanza, the speaker states that a bird

walked in front of her, although the bird could not see
her. She then watched the bird eat half of a worm.
Stanza Two:
 The speaker then states that she saw the bird drink
a dewdrop from a blade of grass, before jumping out of
the way of a beetle.
Stanza Three:
 In the third stanza, the speaker makes observations about
the physical traits of the bird.
She notices that the bird is moving its eyes around nervously
and that it is also moving its head.
Stanza Four:
 The speaker then offers the bird a crumb, however, the
bird startles and flies away. The speaker comments on what the
bird’s wings are like while in flight.
Stanza Five:
 In the final stanza, the speaker continues her comparison of
the bird’s wings. She first states that they are like oars in the
ocean, before also comparing them to a butterfly.
Rhyme scheme
Throughout ‘A Bird, came down the Walk’ there is a consistent ABCB rhyme
scheme.
In the first stanza above, ‘Walk’ and ‘halves’ do not rhyme, while ‘saw’
rhymes with ‘raw’.
Occasionally, this rhyme scheme uses slant rhyme to continue.
In last stanza, we see that ‘Ocean’ and ‘Noon’ still do not rhyme. However,
‘seam’ and ‘swim’ do not rhyme perfectly, and are, instead, slant rhymes.
CONCLUSION
The speaker describes once seeing a bird come down the walk, unaware that it was
being watched.
The bird ate an angleworm, then “drank a Dew / From a convenient Grass—,” then
hopped sideways to let a beetle pass by.
 The bird’s frightened, bead-like eyes glanced all around.

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COURSE : AMERICAN

◦ Young Walt, the 2nd of 9, was withdrawn from

◦ After school, he worked as an office clerk and a

◦ Considered one of the top 5 poets of American

◦ He also was a medic during the civil war.

He worked first at a printmaking job.

He continued to teach school until 1841, when he turned to journalism as a

The writer is telling you something—showing you something:

 “Look at this" or "Think about this."

There's a beginning and an end to a list poem, like in a story:

 It has an introduction and a conclusion.

The endings of the lines in a list poem don’t usually rhyme.

This poem was written not long after the

 The author heard America singing in 1870.

 He heard the varieties of songs.

Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it would be

blithe means happy, carefree

 By measuring his wood or roof the carpenter singing the

 The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or

 The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the

 By sitting on the deck of steamboat the boatman and his

Shoemaker was singing the song by Sitting on the bench.

The woodcutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the

He was singing the song to come out of his tiredness.

Mother was singing the while doing his work.

Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,

They all singing their own songs.

They were not copying the other songs.

They were singing the songs in day and night.

Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

He did not know I saw -

He bit an Angle Worm in halves

And ate the fellow, raw,

And then, he drank a Dew

From a convenient Grass -

And then hopped sidewise to the Wall

To let a Beetle pass-

Like one in danger, Cautious,

Than Oars divide the Ocean,

It is the realistic poem.

This poem says the general thing.

 In the first stanza, the speaker states that a bird

Occasionally, this rhyme scheme uses slant rhyme to continue.

 The bird’s frightened, bead-like eyes glanced all around.

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