Ok, I found this poem a couple days ago that I think perfectly exemplifies the kind of American idealism present in Bioshock Infinite. It's called Ode and it is by the poet Walt Whitman. I will post the entire piece here in its entirety now for analysis and such.
"Ode by Walt Whitman
To Be Sung On Fort Greene;
4th of July, 1846
Tune: The Star Spangled Banner
1
O, God of Columbia! O, Shield of the Free!
More grateful to you than the fanes of old story,
Must the blood-bedewed soil, the red battle-ground, be
Where our fore-fathers championed America's glory!
Then how priceless the worth of the sanctified earth,
We are standing on now. Lo! the slopes of its girth
Where the martyrs were buried: Nor prayers, tears, or
stones,
Mark their crumbled-in coffins, their white, holy bones!
2
Say! sons of Long-Island! in legend or song,
Keep ye aught of its record, that day dark and cheerless -
That cruel of days - when, hope weak, the foe strong,
Was seen the Serene One - still faithful, still fearless,
Defending the worth, of the sanctified earth,
We are standing on now, etc.
3
Ah, yes! be the answer. In memory still
We have placed in our hearts, and embalmed there
forever!
The battle, the prison-ship, the martyrs and hill,
- O, may It be preserved till those hearts death shall sever!
For how priceless the worth, etc.
4
And shall not the years, as they sweep o'er and o'er
Shall they not, ever Here, bring the children of ages -
To exult as their fathers exulted before,
In the freedom achieved by our ancestral sages?
And the prayer rise to heaven, with pure gratitude given
And the sky by the thunder of cannon be riven?
Yea! Yea! let the echo responsively roll
The echo that starts from the patriot's soul!"
So yah, what do you all think?
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