Let American Be America Again Langston Hughes

Andrew has a keen interest in all aspects of verse and writes extensively on the discipline. His poems are published online and in impress.

Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes And A Summary of "Let America Be America Once again"

"Allow America Be America Once again" focuses on the idea of the American dream and how, for many, attaining liberty, equality, and happiness, which the dream encapsulates, is nigh on impossible.

The speaker in the poem outlines the reasons why this ideal America has gone, or never was, just could even so be.

For the poor, the oppressed and the downtrodden, the reality of day to day beingness makes the dream a cruel illusion. The poem explores the darker areas of life, the history of exploitation for example, and outlines the unique struggles of the poor who make up America, both black and white.

Whilst pessimistic and hard hitting, the verse form does have an optimistic ending and lights the way forward with promise.

Langston Hughes was going through a hard period in his life when he wrote this poem. He knew he wanted to earn a living through writing, merely couldn't sustain his efforts, despite poesy book publication, most notably The Weary Blues.

It was on a railroad train journeying through Low-struck America in 1935 that inspired him to pen this classic plea for a resurgence of the truthful American spirit.

Publication followed in the Esquire magazine and Hughes went on to go a noted if controversial effigy in the world of black literature, post-obit his earlier piece of work in the so-called Harlem Renaissance, an upbeat black artistic movement peaking in the 1920s.

"Let America Be America Again" reflects the many influences in Hughes's poetry - from the expansive piece of work of Whitman to street linguistic communication, from jazz rhythm to the steady iambic lines of earlier black poets such as Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Let America Be America Again

Let America exist America again.

Let information technology be the dream it used to be.

Let it be the pioneer on the plain

Seeking a home where he himself is gratuitous.

Coil to Continue

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(America never was America to me.)

Let America exist the dream the dreamers dreamed—

Let it be that great strong country of love

Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme

That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land exist a land where Liberty

Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,

Merely opportunity is real, and life is free,

Equality is in the air we exhale.

(In that location's never been equality for me,

Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the nighttime?

And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,

I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.

I am the red human being driven from the land,

I am the immigrant clutching the promise I seek—

And finding merely the same old stupid programme

Of dog consume dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the fellow, full of forcefulness and promise,

Tangled in that ancient endless chain

Of profit, ability, gain, of grab the land!

Of take hold of the golden! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!

Of piece of work the men! Of accept the pay!

Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondservant to the soil.

I am the worker sold to the machine.

I am the Negro, servant to you all.

I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—

Hungry yet today despite the dream.

Beaten even so today—O, Pioneers!

I am the man who never got alee,

The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Withal I'thousand the one who dreamt our bones dream

In the Old World while withal a serf of kings,

Who dreamt a dream so strong, so dauntless, so true,

That fifty-fifty however its mighty daring sings

In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned

That's fabricated America the land it has become.

O, I'thou the human who sailed those early seas

In search of what I meant to be my dwelling—

For I'm the ane who left dark Ireland's shore,

And Poland's plain, and England'due south grassy lea,

And torn from Black Africa's strand I came

To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Non me?

Surely not me? The millions on relief today?

The millions shot downward when we strike?

The millions who have nothing for our pay?

For all the dreams we've dreamed

And all the songs we've sung

And all the hopes we've held

And all the flags we've hung,

The millions who have null for our pay—

Except the dream that'southward virtually dead today.

O, let America be America again—

The land that never has been yet—

And yet must be—the land where every man is gratuitous.

The land that's mine—the poor man'south, Indian'southward, Negro's,

ME—

Who made America,

Whose sweat and claret, whose faith and pain,

Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,

Must bring dorsum our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me whatever ugly proper name you choose—

The steel of freedom does not stain.

From those who live similar leeches on the people's lives,

We must take dorsum our country again,

America!

O, yep, I say it plain,

America never was America to me,

And yet I swear this adjuration—

America will exist!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,

The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,

Nosotros, the people, must redeem

The state, the mines, the plants, the rivers.

The mountains and the endless plain—

All, all the stretch of these keen dark-green states—

And make America again!

Line-By-Line Analysis of "Let America Be America Again"

This whole poem is a crying out, a passionate plea for America to re-constitute the Dream. It is a kind of personal hymn, a lyrical speech communication, to freedom and equality. To enable that plea to be heard and felt, the speaker has to accept the reader through some dark times, through history, to explain just why that Dream needs to live again.

Lines 1 - 4

Alternating rhyme, repetition and alliteration are all at play in this the commencement stanza, almost a song lyric. Information technology's a direct call for the erstwhile America to be brought dorsum to life again, to exist revived.

Note the mention of the pioneer, those first seekers of freedom who with tremendous volition and try established themselves a home, against all the odds.

Line five

Almost as an aside, but highly significant, the single line in parentheses reveals that, for the speaker, America equally an ideal only hasn't happened. For him, this romantic notion of the American Dream never has been. Why is that?

Lines 6 - 9

The 2d lyrical quatrain, with similar rhyme pattern, places stronger accent on the dream, the original vision people had for the USA, ane of love and equality. There would be no feudal system in place, no dictatorships - everyone would be equal.

Annotation the contrast of the linguistic communication used here. There is the dream and dearest of those who would be equal, against those who would connive, scheme and crush.

Line 10

Another line in parentheses, as if the speaker is quietly reasserting his inner voice - over again making the betoken that this America hasn't existed for him, implying that he is far from the Dream. He is dubious to say the to the lowest degree.

Lines 11 - 14

The tertiary quatrain, with alternate rhyme for familiarity, highlights the outer ideals - the dressing up of Liberty merely for bear witness, which is phoney patriotism. The capital L reinforces the idea that this could be the Statue of Liberty, the famous icon, based on a goddess, who holds the Proclamation of Independence in one hand and the torch in the other. Broken chains lie at her feet.

The plea continues, to make the dream possible, to brand it manifest in opportunity and equality, for all. The suggestion that equality could be in the air people exhale, means that equality should be a natural given, part of the fabric that keeps us all alive, sharing the mutual air.

Lines 15 - 16

The rhyming couplet in parentheses one time once again repeats that, for the speaker personally, equality has been out of reach, perhaps but has never existed. Same goes for freedom. (Homeland of the costless - could be based on the Star-Spangled Banner lyrics 'state of the free.')

Farther Assay

Lines 17 - 18

In italics for special reasons, these lines, two questions, represent a turning betoken in the poem; they are a different aspect of the speaker's identity. These ii questions wait back, questioning the speaker's negativity (in parentheses) and likewise wait forward.

The metaphor of the veil has biblical connections (in Corinthians) alluding to a darkening of reality, of non existence able to meet the truth.

Lines 19 - 24

The beginning of the sextets, half-dozen lines which express yet another aspect of the speaker, who now speaks every bit and for, ane of the oppressed, in the first person, I am. Yet, this voice also expresses the collective, articulating a mass sentiment.

And note that all types of person are included: white, black, native American, the immigrant. All are subject field to the brutal competition and the hierarchical systems imposed upon them.

Lines 25 - xxx

The 2d sextet focuses on the immature man, any immature man no matter, defenseless up in the industrial chaos of profit for profit's sake, where greed is good and power is the ultimate goal. The ugly, unacceptable face of capitalism encourages only selfishness at any expense.

Lines 31 - 38

Over again, use of the repeated phrase I am brings home the message loud and clear in this octet: the arrangement is cruellest to those who are poorest. From the farmer to the servant, from the land to the fine houses of the wealthy, for many the Dream means just hunger and poverty.

Workers become de-humanized, become mere numbers and are treated every bit if they are commodities or money.

Lines 39 - fifty

The longest stanza in the poem, 12 lines, concentrates on the history of those immigrants who dreamt of cardinal freedoms in the offset place. This is the cruel irony. Those fleeing poverty, war and oppression; those forced to leave their native lands, had this dream within, a dream of being truly gratuitous in a new land.

They travelled to America in the hope of realizing this dream. People from Old Europe, many from Africa, all set out for a new life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (Thomas Jefferson).

More Line By Line Analysis

Line 51

A single line, another potent question. The previous twelve lines (the previous 50 lines) all led to this acute indicate. A simple yet searching ask.

Lines 52 - 61

The next 10 lines explore this notion of the costless. Merely the speaker seems perplexed - where did this crazy question originate? It'due south as if the speaker doesn't know himself any longer, or the reasons why the question of the free should arise. Only exactly who are the gratuitous?

There are millions with piddling or cypher. When labor is withdrawn and legitimate protestation bundled, the regime counteract with the bullet. Protest songs and banners and promise count for little - all that's left is a barely breathing dream.

Lines 62 - lxx

The speaker takes a deep breath and repeats the opening line, only with more than emotional input.....O, let America be America again. This is a plea from the centre, this time more personal - ME - yet taking in many unlike types of people.

In these 9 lines the reader truly gets to know the speaker's intention and demand. Freedom for all. It'south almost a telephone call to ascent up and accept back what belongs to the many and not the few.

Lines 71 - 75

No matter the abuse, the pursuit of freedom is pure and strong. Those who have exploited the poor and sucked out their lifeblood (note the simile - like leeches) demand to start thinking once again about buying and rights to belongings.

Lines 76 - 79

A curt quatrain, a kind of summing up of the speaker'south whole take on the American Dream. A direct annunciation - the Dream will manifest at some time. It has to.

Lines eighty - 86

The final septet concludes that, out of the old rotten, criminal system, the people will renew and refresh and rebuild something wholesome and sustainable. There remains promise that the cherished platonic - America - can be made skilful once more.

Literary Devices in Let America Be America Once again

Permit America Be America Once again is an 86 line poem split into 17 stanzas, 3 of which are unmarried lines, 2 of which are couplets. In addition, in that location are 4 quatrains, 2 sextets, one octet, a twelve liner, ten liner, nine liner, quintet, and a vii liner.

The layout is quite unusual. On the page the poem looks more like an extended vocal lyric, with quatrains followed by unmarried lines and very brusque lines turning up in mid-stanza.

Let'south take a closer expect at the literary devices:

Rhyme Scheme

Rhymes tend to bring familiarity and aid reinforce significant. In poetry, there are simple rhyme schemes and in that location are challenging ones. In this verse form the rhyming pattern starts in a conventional manner just gradually becomes more circuitous.

For example, have a look at the showtime half-dozen stanzas:

• abab - (b) - cdcd - (b) - bebe - (bb)

This is relatively easy to follow. There is an alternate design in the starting time three quatrains, with the strong full vowel rhyme due east ascendant:

be/gratis/me/me/Liberty/free/me/free.

The full end rhymes leave the reader in no doubt well-nigh 1 of the main themes of this poem - freedom and me. A strong pairing ensures a memorable bail.

So, the first sixteen lines are straightforward enough. After this the rhyme scheme gradually loses its regular blueprint and becomes stretched.

• However further downwards the line then to speak, in that location are withal loose echoes of the familiar alternating pattern established at the get-go of the poem.

Each of the larger stanzas contains some grade of full rhyme, or full and slant rhyme:

soil/all with auto/mean and get/free with lea/free.

Slant rhyme tends to challenge the reader considering it is nearly to total rhyme merely isn't full rhyme to the ear, equally in soil/all. It means things aren't clicking in full, they're a little scrap out of harmony.

As the poem progresses, rhyme becomes more than intermittent and tends to condense in certain stanzas, as in stanza 13, pay/today and stanza 14, hurting/pelting/again. The poet's aim with such concentrated rhyme is to brand the words stick in the reader's mind and retentiveness.

Literary Device (2)

Anaphora

Repetition plays an of import role in this verse form and occurs throughout. When words and phrases are repeated this has a similar event to chanting, reinforcing meaning and giving the feel of ability and aggregating of free energy.

From the first stanza - Let America/Let information technology be/Let information technology be - to the concluding - The land, the plants, the mines, the rivers - at that place are repeats. Some critics accept likened them to song lyrics, others to parts of a political oral communication, where ideas and images are built upwardly once more and once more.

Alliteration

In that location are numerous examples of alliterative lines - when words with leading consonants are close together - which bring texture and interest to lines and a challenge to the reader.

In the first 4 stanzas:

pioneer on the apparently/dwelling where he himself/dream the dreamers dreamed/land exist a land where Freedom/slavery's scars.

Enjambment

Enjambment, when a line continues without punctuation on into the adjacent, keeping the flow of sense, occurs in several stanzas. Look out for the 'open' end lines which encourage the reader to not break but proceed straight into the next line.

For instance:

Permit it exist the pioneer on the plain

Seeking a dwelling house where he himself is fredue east.

and again:

We, the people, must redeem

The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.

Metaphor

Tangled in that endless ancient chain

of profit, ability, gain, of grab the land!

Personification

That even notwithstanding its mighty daring sing

in every brick and stone, in every furrow turned

Sources

world wide web.poets.org

Norton Anthology,Norton, 2005

https://uwc.utexas.edu

100 Essential Modern Poems, Ivan Dee, Joseph Parisi, 2005

© 2017 Andrew Spacey

lockwoodeaketury.blogspot.com

Source: https://owlcation.com/humanities/Analysis-of-Poem-Let-America-Be-America-Again-by-Langston-Hughes

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