"To Walt Whitman" (by Angela de Hoyos)

Forums: Poetry
Email this Topic • Print this Page

Hello. I need some help analyzing this poem. I can't seem to find anything. The only things I found were the alliterations (the "man" and "my", and the "spill" and "song"). Any help would be greatly appreciated.

To Walt Whitman (by Angela de Hoyos)

hey man, my brother
world-poet
prophet democratic
here's a guitar
for you
-a chicana guitar-
so you can spill out a song
for the open road
big enough for my people
-my Native American race
that I cant seem to find
in your poems

Thanks

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link to this Topic

Type: Discussion • Score: 0 • Views: 18,887 • Replies: 9

No top replies

Hmm...

What do you think the last three lines mean?

0 Replies

i think she want's whitman to talk about her race

0 Replies

Right.

Can you expand on that? What might be the point of the poem?

0 Replies

is the point of the poem that whitman wrote about every other American except the native americans??

0 Replies

I think something close to that. I think it's likely (I'm not sure), something about how Walt Whitman is celebrated as this great American poet but he's really within the Dead White Men canon -- the slice of America he celebrated was really pretty narrow. It didn't, for example, have much to do with Native Americans (the perspective from which this poet is writing).

And maybe something larger about what the definition of "American" is, at all.

0 Replies

why do you think she wrote this after whitman died? and why do you tink she put the alliterations in there? i could not really find a reason for it.

0 Replies

Umm... pretty sure
I am fairly sure she wrote it after whitman died because she wasn't born until 1940 and whitman died in 1892.

When she says 'prophet democratic' she is suggesting that the 'democratic' society that was spoken of in I hear America Singing is in the imagination of the writer and believer.

Hope this helps, I am also struggling with it... the over all message is clear but doesn't allow one to write 1000 word essay.

Cheers.

0 Replies

Poetry is language than cannot be concisely paraphrased.

Quote:

To Walt Whitman (by Angela de Hoyos)

hey man, my brother
world-poet
prophet democratic
here's a guitar
for you
-a chicana guitar-
so you can spill out a song
for the open road
big enough for my people
-my Native American race
that I cant seem to find
in your poems

Are there any other minority groups that Whitman left out of his census of Americans? Do Whitman's omissions show he is a man of his times--or that he is a flawed poet? Should a poet describe society or work to change society?

0 Replies

@Shay10825,

In the poem it's not "My Native American race," it's "My Native Amerindian race." And please put it into the right format, stanzas.
Also I think she is saying that he thinks America is wonderful with just white Americans no other colors. She is responding to his poems, like "I, Too" by Langston Hughes.

0 Replies

"To Walt Whitman" (by Angela de Hoyos)

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know