I never understood the reverence most students of poetry felt for Walt Whitman – in particular, the level of admiration for this 4th of July poem.
Tell me I’m wrong:
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 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,
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.
But maybe it’s not Whitman. Maybe it’s the celebration itself that brings out the banality in good poets. Here are a bunch of them published by the Poetry Foundation. I liked three of them.
The New Colossus
EMMA LAZARUS
This famous Statue of Liberty sonnet famously welcomes “homeless, tempest-tost” newcomers.
Immigrants in Our Own Land
JIMMY SANTIAGO BACA
The poet tallies harsh realities that sometimes follow the Statue of Liberty’s greeting.
Fourth of July
JOHN BREHM
The identities and meanings of America explored in metaphors.
Immigrant Picnic
GREGORY DJANIKIAN
The poet recounts the oddities of a traditional American July 4th cookout with his immigrant parents.
I Am Waiting
LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI
This poem lists so many things that our country is still waiting for.
America
ALLEN GINSBERG
This famous poem begins “America I’ve given you all and now I’m nothing. / America two dollars and twenty-seven cents January 17, 1956. / I can’t stand my own mind.”
Anthem
SUSAN HAHN
Optimism wrestles with frustration in Susan Hahn’s fin-de-siècle anthem.
Learning to love America
SHIRLEY GEOK-LIN LIM
On the reasons to love an adopted country.
The Landlord’s Tale. Paul Revere’s Ride
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Why not share this poem which proclaims, “Listen, my children, and you shall hear / Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere…”
America
CLAUDE MCKAY
Acknowledging the United States’ fraught past, Claude McKay confesses, “I love this cultured hell that tests my youth.”
The History of America
ALICIA OSTRIKER
The poet worries that America “does not actually care.”
Banneker
RITA DOVE
A poem about Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806), a black man appointed to the commission that surveyed and laid out Washington, DC.
Monuments
MYRA SKLAREW
Like Rita Dove, Myra Sklarew pays homage to African Americans who helped build Washington, DC.
Fourth of July at Santa Ynez
JOHN HAINES
A quiet poem that shows that not everyone celebrates this holiday the same way.
July 4th
MAY SWENSON
An analytical critique of our annual
Well… what do you think?
