Walt Whitman's "I Hear America Singing"

The Daily Poem

Goldberry Studios

Education For Kids, Arts, Kids & Family

4.6 • 729 Ratings

🗓️ 3 July 2023

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today’s poem is by Walter Whitman Jr. (/ˈhwɪtmən/; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892), an American poet, essayist, and journalist. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American history. Whitman incorporated both transcendentalism and realism in his writings and is often called the father of free verse.[1]

Whitman's major poetry collection, Leaves of Grass, first published in 1855, was financed with his own money and became well known. The work was an attempt to reach out to the common person with an American epic. Whitman continued expanding and revising Leaves of Grass until his death in 1892.

His poetry often focused on both loss and healing. On the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, who Whitman greatly admired, he authored two poems "O Captain! My Captain!" and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd", and gave a series of lectures on Lincoln.

—Bio via Wikipedia

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome back to the Daily Poem, a podcast from Goldberry Studios. I'm David Kern, and today is Monday, July 3rd, 2023.
0:10.0	Today's poem is by American poet named Walt Whitman. And this poem seemed like a right poem to read here on the week of the 4th of July, which is, of course, tomorrow.
0:20.3	Whitman was born in May of 1819. He died in
0:23.0	March of 1892. And as you know, he was a poet, essayist, and journalist. He also is known for his
0:31.0	diaries in his journals, which are some of the most influential published journals of the 19th century.
0:39.3	The two poems that he is most famous for are called O Captain, My Captain, and when lilacs last in the dooryard bloomed, which were
0:47.1	written in admiration of Abraham Lincoln. The poem that you're going to hear today is called
0:52.6	I Hear America Singing,
0:54.5	and it is from his famous collection, Leaves of Grass.
0:59.0	As always, I will read it once, offer a few comments,
1:02.4	and then I will read it one more time before concluding today's episode.
1:06.4	Walt Whitman's, I Hear America Singing.
1:12.5	I Hear America Singing. I hear America singing.
1:15.6	The varied carols, I hear.
1:18.3	Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong.
1:25.9	The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, the mason singing his
1:32.1	as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work. The boatman singing what belongs to him in his
1:38.6	boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck, the shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he
1:46.5	stands, the woodcutters song, the plowboys on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission,
1:52.3	or at sundown, the delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl
1:59.2	sewing, or washing,
2:06.3	each singing what belongs to him or her and to no one else.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Goldberry Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Goldberry Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.