How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong, (1-2)
The speaker of the poem begins by telling us that he hears "America" singing. He collectivizes all of the "varied carols" into one singular voice of America, even as he goes on to list all of the different workers (starting with the mechanics).
Quote #2
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 deck-hand singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,
The woodcutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown, (3-7)
Walt loved himself a good list, and here's one of his most well-known ones. In these lines, the speaker catalogues many of the different types of workers in America, all doing their own thing. There's a sense of ownership that the workers have in these lines; check out how many times Whitman uses the word "his" to refer both to the workers' songs and to their hard labor.
Quote #3
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing, (8)
It's not just men who work hard in America; in these lines, Whitman valorizes the work of women, too. This may not be a bit deal in the twenty-first century, but back in the nineteenth, it was pretty progressive for Whitman to acknowledge the work of women right alongside the work of men. Walt Whitman: our favorite nineteenth-century proto-feminist.