Name __________________________________________________________ Per. ____________
1. Read “I Hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman on page 442.
(a) What occupations does Whitman attribute to Americans?
(b) What does his catalog/list of occupations suggest about his vision of America?
2. Read “I, Too” by Langston Hughes on page 449.
(a) What is this poem about?
(b) The poem is primarily written in metaphors. The author is not really talking about eating in
the kitchen. What is he really saying?
(c) What does the last line of the poem mean (…I, too, am America)?
3. Read “To Walt Whitman” by Angela de Hoyos on page 451.
What is her message to Walt Whitman?
Connecting Literature Past and Present:
1. (a) Compare and contrast the message of American identity in Hughes’s and de Hoyos’s poems to
Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing.”
(b) What message do you think Hughes and de Hoyos are trying to convey?
2. In what ways do “To Walt Whitman” and “I, Too” reflect changes in the American literary voice
since the time of Walt Whitman?
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REFLECT on Walt Whitman – his life, values, and his poem “I Hear America Singing” on
page 442.
If Whitman were to write this poem today, do you think his message would be the same?
Explain.