This Land Is Your Land” by Woodie Guthrie Overview

. I was quite surprised to have this selected for me because this was one that I’m quite familiar with as I have heard the song many times. It always seemed to me to be a very cheerful and patriotic song. The elements of poetic form that his song/poem carries the most is rhythm, repetition, and certainly rhythm, meter, and cadence. The cadence is especially strong in the tone that is carried throughout the poem is a cheerful note and is pretty straight forward. The poem progresses through as how beautiful God has made the earth we live on, until near the end it offers the suggestion that is not a free land everywhere though. Guthrie mentions a “no trespassing sign”, but then says the other side didn’t have that sign, so that land is made for you and me (Guthrie 5.2). It’s a beautifully written poem that turned into a song that rivals another very patriotic song in “God Bless America”.  It has a very nice flow of words and the song has always been very catchy. It communicates the uplifting tone through the author as well as our patriotic freedom of our beautiful country.

Reference:

“This Land Is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie, www.woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/This_Land.htm.