The first line of “I, Too” establishes the poem’s theme and hints at its form. The poem begins with a powerful, direct statement. The speaker insists that he also “sing[s] America.” This statement is an allusion to a poem by Walt Whitman, “I Hear America Singing.” In “I Hear America Singing,” Whitman depicts America as a diverse country, with many different kinds of people doing many different kinds of jobs. However, they are all unified. Whitman uses a metaphor to describe this unity: they sing together, creating a harmonious choir that sings a common song.
Whitman’s depiction of America is idealized—and it neglects many of the real conflicts that divide Americans. For instance, even though it was written in 1855, just five years before the American Civil War, "I Hear America Singing" makes no mention of slavery. Indeed, Whitman does not include black people at all in his account of American life.
The speaker of “I, Too” objects to this exclusion. The opening line of the poem should be seen as a direct response to Whitman. The speaker insists that he is also part of the American song. The reader learns later, in line 2, that the speaker is the “darker brother”—in other words, that he is a black man. So the speaker is saying that black people have contributed and continue to contribute to American history and culture—that their contributions are as important as those made by any of the white figures that appear in Whitman’s poem.
The line is forceful, passionate. The strong, definite end-stop at the end of the line underscores this passion: the speaker does not have any doubts, nor does he leave room for debate or dispute. Further, this line will eventually become a refrain for the poem—it reappears, in a slightly different form, as the poem’s final line. It is a point of certainty and conviction, a fundamental belief that shapes the rest of the poem.
The line is not in meter and it does not participate in a rhyme scheme. It is a line of free verse (and the rest of the poem will continue to be in free verse). Meter and rhyme are European poetic traditions—they emerge from largely white, often racist, cultures. In refusing these devices, the speaker thus strikes out to create a black literary voice, independent of European traditions.
However, his use of free verse also hints at the speaker's entanglement with Whitman: Whitman was one of the first poets to write in free verse. The speaker is using some of Whitman’s poetic innovations even as he quarrels with the limits of Whitman’s poetic vision. The reader should take this as a subtle argument about the scope of American literature: the speaker insists that black voices belong in the American literary canon, that they can use its distinctive devices and resources.
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