The 4 poets here seemed to focus on America in their poetry. All the poems dealt with something seemingly historical, and dealt with the issues of their time, such as slavery and the civil war. I think it's cool, cause, it's like them speaking their minds, in a more creative way. Like a really cool Letter-to-the-Editor kind of thing.

I liked Whittier the best from this section. Simply because he wasn't a writer from a well-to-do family, who had college and experience under his belt. He was the son of a farmer who worked his way up. All of Whittier's poetry had a uniting theme of small-town America, dealing with political issues of the time. His poems had an underlying theme of freedom, yet a bind to responsibilities, which I thought was cool. It could remind you of life today. Even though the historical context would be different, the theme would be the same.