Question

In "I Hear America Singing." This poem celebrates average American workers. What inference can you make about how Whitman might have felt about wealthy people who do not have to work for a living? Cite strong and thorough textual evidence. Your answer:

Answer 1

Answer:

What inference can you make about how Whitman might have felt about wealthy people who do not have to work for a living?

I believe Whitman does not regard wealthy people as having the same importance or uniqueness as the average American workers.

Explanation

This poem is about celebrating America and the working class that is its backbone. Whitman makes sure to mention several professions, men and women:

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 deckhand 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 of the girl sewing or washing,

He does not, however, at any moment, mention the wealthy. Those who do not have to work for a living are not celebrated in this poem at all. The people mentioned in the poem have something unique, special about them precisely because of their occupations and hard work. They probably view life in a unique manner. Those who do not work cannot possess this kind of perspective or knowledge. There is not anything worthy of mention, at least for Whitman, about the wealthy.