Poem persona

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	Two Poets Sing America Persona, Voice and Poetic Allusion
	Walt Whitman 1819 – 1892 I Hear America Singing Song of Myself - I	Langston Hughes 1902 – 1967 I, Too, Sing America Let America Be America Again
	Persona in poetry is understood as the speaker in the poem and revealed through the voice speaking in the poem. Persona may be the voice of the poet --in a neutral sense-- or a created character. Persona also implies a situation or context for the poem's speaker. Through voice we hear and feel the emotional contour of the poem and its underlying theme. Several poems by Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes emphasize the poet's speaking voice as song. Their poems also participate in a dialogue, through Hughes's allusion to the earlier Whitman poems. These poem excerpts demonstrate voice and persona in poetry, as well as a dialogue between poetic personas.
	Persona and Voice When trying to determine a poem's persona, ask yourself: Who is speaking in the poems? What are the speakers' point of view (first person, singular or plural, second person, third person singular or plural)? How do the word choices, sound patterns and diction indicate the voice? What do the speakers in these poems reveal about themselves and their situations? What words and images show the voice, and persona in these poems? Interpret the voice in the poem: What are the speakers saying? (the literal meaning of the words) What do they think they are saying? What do you think they are saying? The judgment: what do you, as the reader, think of what they are saying? Compare the persona and voice in the two poems: Describe the persona in Whitman's "I Sing America." Who is the speaker in Hughes's "I Too Sing America"? How do the Hughes poems address the Whitman poems? What do these poems say to each other? Writing Assignment Click this link for the Writing Persona Assignment
	Walt Whitman	Langston Hughes
	I Hear America Singing 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. Full text at: American Academy of Poets	I, Too, Sing America I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then. Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed— Full text at: American Academy of Poets


	Song of Myself - I I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. I loafe and invite my soul, I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass. My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air, Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same, I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin, Hoping to cease not till death. Creeds and schools in abeyance, Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten, I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard, Nature without check with original energy. Full text at: American Academy of Poets	Let America Be America Again Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free. (America never was America to me.) Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed-- Let it be that great strong land of love Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme ... I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek-- And finding only the same old stupid plan Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak. I am the young man, full of strength and hope, Tangled in that ancient endless chain . . .I am the worker sold to the machine. I am the Negro, servant to you all. I am the people, humble, hungry, mean-- Hungry yet today despite the dream. . . .Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream In the Old World while still a serf of kings, Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true, That even yet its mighty daring sings In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned That's made America the land it has become. O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas In search of what I meant to be my home-- For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore, And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea, And torn from Black Africa's strand I came To build a "homeland of the free." The free? Full text at: American Academy of Poets
	Poetry excerpts from: Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman (1855). Walt Whitman at Modern American Poetry	Poetry excerpts from: The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes (1994). Langston Hughes at Modern American Poetry
	Links: Anthology of Modern American Poetry (Oxford University Press, 2000) Edited by Cary Nelson http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/index.htm The American Academy of Poets http://www.poets.org/index.cfm Glossary of Poetic Terms - Univ. Toronto. http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display_rpo/poetterm.cfm Glossary of Literary Terms - Thomson & Gale http://www.galegroup.com/free_resources/glossary/index.htm Poetry Critical Reading http://www.critical-reading.com/poetry.htm Poetry - English Works! at Gallaudet University, http://depts.gallaudet.edu/englishworks/literature/main/ poetry.htm Langston Hughes Resource File Walt Whitman Archive	References: Hughes, Langston. The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes. New York: Knopf and Vintage Books, 1994. Oliver, Mary. The Poet’s Voice. Blue Pastures. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1995. "Voice" and "Persona." The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Ed. Alex Premnger and T. V. F. Brogan. Princeton: Princeton U. Pr., 1993. Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. Philadelphia: David McKay, [c1900].
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