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Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
I Hear America Singing.
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should 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 deck-
hand 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 morn-
ing, 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.
The above version of the poem is as it appeared in the 1867 edition
of Leaves of Grass. It
can be found in:
Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass: Comprehensive Reader's
Edition. Harold W.Blodgett & Sculley Bradley, eds. New York:
New York University Press, 1965.
The original version of the poem was number 20 in the section
Chants Democratic in the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass, and can
be found in:
Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. Boston: Thayer and Eldridge,
1860. (as found in the facsimile edition printed Ithaca, NY: Cornell
University Press, 1961.)
20
1. AMERICAN mouth-songs !
Those of mechanics — each one singing his, as it
should 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 deck-hand singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench — the
hatter singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter'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 the girl sewing
or washing — Each singing what belongs to her,
and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day — At night, the
party of young fellows, robust, friendly, clean-
blooded, singing with melodious voices, melo-
dious thoughts.
2. Come ! some of you ! Still be flooding The States
with hundreds and thousands of mouth-songs,
fit for The States only.
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