‘America’ By Walt Whitman

— Poem Analysis —

About the Author/Poet:

Walt Whitman was born on Long Island & was raised in Brooklyn, New York. He wasn’t rich &
didn’t have a very clean background, however he read many books, including the works of Scott
and Shakespeare. He also spent his early years working as a printer & journalist—when he was
27, he became the editor of the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper. He accepted this job in New Orleans.
Whitman started traveling across the country for the first time, observing the diversity of
America’s landscapes and people. He started writing poetry, impressed by the description of a
new kind of American poet.

About the Poem:

America, by Walt Whitman, is a poem that talks about America & its essence. The poem shows
that everyone has a voice and that the nation is “the center of equal daughters and equal sons.”
The poem is a reassertion of the poet’s faith in the destiny of the American nation. The poet
expresses his devotion to democracy & that America is fulfilling a spiritual need of its people.
He identifies the American nation as freedom, law, and love.

Author’s Tone & Language:

The poet has a respectful tone and uses formal language & formal sentence structure. This style
of language is old, given that it is from the 1800s.

Unfamiliar Words:

- Ample: plentiful
- Endear’d: to cause to become beloved/admired
- Perennial: enduring; consistently recurring or returning
- Adamant: legendary rock of impenetrable hardness

— 25/09/2022; Grade 11/A: Lujaina Aljuhani, Aseel Basaqr, Fatima Khair, Juri Alghamdi