Page 83 - 100 Best Loved Poems - Teaching Unit
P. 83
“I Hear America Singing”
by Walt Whitman, pages 65-66
Vocabulary
blithe – lighthearted; carefree
robust – healthy and energetic
1. This poem proceeds roughly in the form of a list. What is the literary term for such a poem?
Catalog verse is the literary term for this form.
2. Describe the overall tone of the poem.
Answers may vary. Example: The overall tone of the poem is celebratory and praiseful.
3. In what way does the poem celebrate both the individual and the masses?
The poem celebrates the individual in that Whitman mentions that each is “singing what
belongs to him or her and to none else.” It celebrates the masses in its title: all of these
individuals constitute “America Singing.”
T-65
