This Land Is Your Land

Is this land our land? In Woody Guthrie’s poem, “This Land Is Your Land,” the tone is set to be a joyful song, but the tone twists towards the end. As I read, I interpreted the poem in the tone of joy which transforms into disillusion when the speaker questions, “Is this land made for you and me?” (Guthrie line 24). Reading Guthrie’s poem, I came to the conclusion that because of all the hardships America went through in the 1930s, the American dream is not for everyone regardless of one’s hopes. Woody Guthrie is known as a “folk singer, composer, writer, and a homegrown radical… during the Great Depression” (“Woody Guthrie”). During his career, he wrote “This Land Is Your Land,” a poem that reflects Guthrie’s view of the hardships America was undergoing. Guthrie was born in Oklahoma in 1912; he was one of the many Dust-Bowl refugees during the 1930s. As a…

“This land is your land, this land is my land, from California to the New York Island, from the Redwood forests to the Gulfstream waters, this land was made for you and me” (Guthrie). Contrary to the lyrics in “This Land is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie, this land was apparently not made for “you and me.” America was only made for the “me” aspect of the song, “me” being the Americans. Thousands of years ago, the Americas were undiscovered by the Europeans. Now, this land withholds a great country.…

This Land Is Your Land is a poem written by Woodrow Wilson “Woody” Guthrie in February of 1940; in April of 1944 it was eventually set to music and turned into a song. On the first reading of this poem, especially when one takes into account the song that was learned in childhood, it has a very patriotic feel to it, “This land is your land this land is my land / this land was made for you and me” (Guthrie 1:1, 1:4). Upon closer inspection, when the last three stanzas of the poem are taken into…

Analysis of This Land is Your Land This Land is Your Land is an American Folk song that was written in 1940 by songwriter Woody Guthrie. This Land is Your Land was written in response to the song God Bless America which songwriter Woody Guthrie disagreed. He wanted is own representation of a patriotic song that he felt would more accurately relate to American citizens at the time. In an article by Mark Allen Jackson, Jackson sates that “it is a musical response to God Bless America” (Jackson…

country could be up against, and can be used to address messages. Music is surprisingly influential. It can educate the society and maybe even change their views too. In the 1950s, there were 2 main social movements; labor and civil rights movements respectively. Woody Guthrie wrote the song ‘This Land Is Your Land’, in reaction when folks were unable to find work and were going hungry. He pointed out that he sees his fellow citizens standing in welfare lines and came to question if the…

began to haunt America in the late 1940s and 1950s. It created fear into Americans with a communist invasion and a global atomic war. It affected movies, tv shows, games, novels, and many other products. America was actually the ones to create an atomic bomb. They eventually used it in Japan in 1945. It was created by US scientists driven out by the war. Because they didn’t share the information with USSR, this upset USSR and they soon created their own bomb several years later. Thousands of…

American songs are often seen as patriotic and a way different people can come together and sing as one voice, an American voice. This may be true for the first part of “This Land is Your Land” by Woodie Guthrie, but the second part of the song is often left unsung. The first part details how America is for everyone, repeatedly saying “this land was made for you and me” (Guthrie). Essentially, everyone has an equal right to the land in America, as we are all one. There is no oppression, because…

“Everybody might be just one big soul,Well it looks that a-way to me.” Woody Guthrie wrote lots of songs that people loved. He also wrote This Land Is Your Land in 1940. He went all over the USA, to sing songs for people. He also sang 100s of songs around the USA. He sang songs to make people happy. The quote and the song are similar and also different. So to compare the song and the writing that he wrote there are many similarities. For example, the song and the quote both have a message…

“Left wing, right wing, chicken wing.” Woody Guthrie was a skilled guitarist who traveled the U.S.A. singing songs and saying famous quotes to inspire people who get put down. He said a very inspirational quote and sang the famous song called “This Land is Your Land”. There are some differences and similarities from what he said and and sang. Both these work of art were meant for everybody who are usually being put down. They were also meant to inspire people. They both were said to make people…

“This land was made for you and me.” Way back in 1940, there was a man named Woody Guthrie. He trekked across the USA singing hundreds of songs. His most prominent song, though, is “This Land is Your Land”, a song that explained that the USA is for everyone. He is often quoted because of his inspiring messages. The famous song is very similar to one of his quotes, but is different too. Both the song and the quote are proportionate in some ways. First, let’s knock off the obvious one: they are…