TOW #9 "I Hear America Singing" (poem)

                I interpreted the meaning of this poem to be something along the lines of: doing what you love makes you strong, and it is something worth singing about. It is called I Hear America Singing because it is not just specific people, it is the nation altogether. Each person has a different job i.e. mechanics, carpenters, masons, boatmen, deckhands, shoemakers, hatters, woodcutters, ploughboys, mothers, or girls, and Walt Whitman is hearing them all singing. Since he includes a broad spectrum of professions, he really is trying to include just about everyone in America. When saying what each worker is doing while singing, it makes sense that they would do so, therefore appealing to logos. Pathos is key, mainly in the last few lines of the poem where he makes it clear that these songs are not sad or negative, but that they are strong, melodious and proud songs being sung. The title is obviously patriotic in the sense that he does not talk about the world singing either, he talks about hearing the working people all over America singing. The country is one unified nation with a unified voice that, at the same time, is broken into individual voices singing equally strong and proud. This brought a sense of power to the working class citizens who might have read this. It is important for the people holding this nation together to be proud of what they do, and continue making America as strong and proud as it can and will be.