Text 1: “I Hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman
1 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,
5 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
10 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,
15 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.
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Text 2: “I, Too, Sing America” by Langston Hughes
1 I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
5 But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
10 When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.
15 Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed—
I, too, am America.
"I, Too," from THE COLLECTED POEMS OF LANGSTON HUGHES by Langston Hughes, edited by Arnold Rampersad with David Roessel, Associate Editor, copyright © 1994 by the Estate of Langston Hughes. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
10. Choose a statement that explains how the point of view of the speaker of Text 1 compares or contrasts with that of Text 2?
Question 10 options:
A. Whitman’s speaker speaks from a point of view of one who feels valued as an American, while Hughes’ speaker does not.
B. Whitman’s speaker mainly discusses the challenges of being an American, while Hughes’s speaker mainly discusses the benefits of being an American
C. Whitman’s speaker and Hughes’s speaker describe the lives of both American men and women.
D. Whitman’s speaker describes the steps Americans have taken to achieve success, while Hughes’s speaker does not.