SAAM Hears America Singing

William H. Johnson, Lift Up Thy Voice and Sing, ca. 1942-1944, oil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.616

In honor of Walt Whitman's two-hundredth birthday—and to mark the Smithsonian American Art Museum's special connection to the poet—may we present “I Hear America Singing” from Leaves of Grass, illustrated with American artwork.

Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Walt Whitman, 1875, chalk on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Robert Tyler Davis Memorial Fund, 1980.73

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,

Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,

I. Rice Pereira, Machine Composition #2, 1937, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Patricia and Phillip Frost, 1986.92.72

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,

Lee Gatch, Rising Sun Farm, 1953, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Max Kahn, 1995.23.4

The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,

Bernard Schardt, Girl Sewing, ca. 1934-1943, color woodcut on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the Evander Childs High School, Bronx, New York through the General Services Administration, 1975.83.82

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.

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Related Content: Walt Whitman's Specimen Days