How does Whitman set himself up as 'The American poet'.
Whitman is a poet who set himself to resolutely deal with the vast developments of the 19th century, all teeming life and work of the Americas and of the wider world still, under aspects startlingly different in their scope and of tremendous significance to anything the world has known before.
In order to set himself up as 'The American Poet' Whitman needed to base all of his poems on America and praising the country in as many ways as possible. Whitman tries to show how great America is by reflecting the lives of American's and the strong spirit of patriotism that they share.
Whitman's poetry is clearly American because the subject of all his poems is the greatness of America and the American people. This is shown well in the poem - 'I hear America Singing'.
Walt's exuberance for his native land on the verge of phenomenal growth and wealth finds expression in this short poem. This poem is about how America has emerged as a strong and youthful power and it is full of Happy, healthy young men fit for industry and agriculture. The first line of the poem says 'I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear' , the use of the word carols symbolises the strong sense of Christian religion in this poem and how it is celebrating the birth of the American nation. The carols are supposed to show celebration because of their use in the bible and in the Christian religion as happy and meaningful songs. Christianity is still very strong in America and the religion is always seen as a celebratory religion that celebrates the miracles of life and everything that god created.
Because this poem is a celebratory poem, Whitman has also made it a Romantic poem. Whitman was a very strongly romantic poet and all of his poems share similar styles and use of language to that of other romantic's. The sense of Christianity in this poem is very bold and important theme.