“I Hear America singing, the varied carols I hear” “I hear” in a sense helps to stress the importance of the speaker’s role in the poem. Everything that runs between “I hear” is filtered through the speaker and defines his/her experience. This poem is dependent of the speaker on the conscious level to gain understanding. “I hear America singing,” is a metaphor that is introduced in the first line. The speaker imagines America as the culmination of the voices of the American people who are unique individuals. …show more content…
Each person is defined by his profession; they are also singing and conveying their own uniqueness. Each person is of the working class and is shown working throughout the day. These characters, giving in to the controlling metaphor, are representatives of “America.” Seeing the figures from other socioeconomic classes that the poem overlooks, it becomes obvious that the speaker is offering a particular idea of America. Even though the poem puts forth the ideal of government as by and for the people, the instances of American people are narrowed to those from within the working class. It could be said that the speaker denies figures from other classes a place in the poem, and consequently in America. By placing himself within the poem, the speaker asserts his own position in this vision of America. This poem in turn becomes his song, his work, his distinct contribution to the larger chorus that is