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Brian Lam
Mr. Gallagher
AP Literature
10 January 2011
In “I the People,” Alice Notley examines how all humans are connected, yet be so self-
centered to one another even when unity exists in life. Notley’s historical reference to Preamble
of the U.S. Constitution guides her poem as she switches the title from “We the People” to “I the
people.” It is of great importance that the U.S. Constitution should not be ignored in analyzing
Notley’s poem because her interpretation of unity is based upon it. The poem has a twisted
From lines 1-13, Notley presents how humans came to be and how unity was once
unstable. In lines 2-3, Notley uses a combination of simple verbs and prepositions to show how
human “came to be.” Here she included “I the People,” which signify how humans were self-
centered back then. However, from lines 4-6, she uses the pronoun “we” to show how the birth
of humans were connected, but there is also a big indentation to show that the unity has been
disrupted. Then from lines 11-13, Notley says, “We hope we are notes from the music scale of
heaven,” emphasizing there is still hope in life because everything is connected. The paradoxical
From lines 14-26, Notley emphasizes on unity as a bond. She talks about how humans are
“so repetitious,” yet “loosely” holds the neighbors. The importance of her paradox helped to
describe humans having two kinds of personality – caring and uncaring. The changing between
the two personalities further complex human behavior for unity. Without care, unity does not
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exist. However, with care, humans would thrive in interacting with one another. Notley also talks
about the difference between how groups of people feel and how an individual feels. How groups
of people feel collectively concerns more about the overall human condition, using Notley’s
words such as “We, people, our, all (26).” Her word choices to separate from the “I” and “We”
From lines 27- 50, Notley conveys the acceptance for unity to progress. She says that the
“opening words” resembles humans have become united as a whole overtime, changing from
individualistic self-centered behavior to a more caring behavior (27). The “opening words”
suggested from the U.S. Constitution is relevant to her idea of democracy in order to unite people
as a whole. The emotional feeling that Notley gives emphasizes unity, which comes from
“hearing and saying at the double edge of body & breath (30). Her last few lines of the poem
says that the “I” in people cannot work alone and would fail to do so, in comparison to working
together as a whole.
Notley’s poem creates an in-depth complexity of how human behaviors decide to either
work alone or work as a whole. Her intricate lines of the poem are carefully crafted, with deep
historical reference of democracy. The paradoxical nature of her poem is a focus on how the U.S.
government and American people are behaving so divisively on politics. The distinction between
the “I” and “We” nevertheless differs because of many different opinions of where unity should