Langston Hughes Let America Be America Again Art

Andrew has a smashing interest in all aspects of poetry and writes extensively on the subject. His poems are published online and in print.

Langston Hughes

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

"Permit America Be America Again" focuses on the idea of the American dream and how, for many, attaining freedom, 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, but could still exist.

For the poor, the oppressed and the downtrodden, the reality of day to solar day existence 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 poem does have an optimistic catastrophe and lights the way forward with hope.

Langston Hughes was going through a difficult period in his life when he wrote this poem. He knew he wanted to earn a living through writing, only couldn't sustain his efforts, despite verse volume publication, about notably The Weary Blues.

Information technology was on a railroad train journey through Depression-struck America in 1935 that inspired him to pen this classic plea for a resurgence of the true American spirit.

Publication followed in the Esquire mag and Hughes went on to become a noted if controversial figure in the world of black literature, following his earlier work in the and so-called Harlem Renaissance, an upbeat black artistic movement peaking in the 1920s.

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

Let America Exist America Again

Let America be America again.

Let it be the dream it used to be.

Permit it be the pioneer on the patently

Seeking a domicile where he himself is free.

Curl to Continue

Read More From Owlcation

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—

Let it be that bang-up strong land of love

Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme

That any human be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, allow my land exist a land where Liberty

Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,

Merely opportunity is real, and life is gratuitous,

Equality is in the air nosotros breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,

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

Say, who are yous that mumbles in the night?

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'due south scars.

I am the red man driven from the state,

I am the immigrant clutching the promise I seek—

And finding only the same former stupid program

Of dog swallow dog, of mighty beat out the weak.

I am the young man, total of strength and promise,

Tangled in that ancient endless chain

Of profit, power, proceeds, of catch the country!

Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!

Of work the men! Of have the pay!

Of owning everything for one's ain greed!

I am the farmer, bondservant to the soil.

I am the worker sold to the machine.

I am the Negro, servant to y'all all.

I am the people, apprehensive, hungry, hateful—

Hungry yet today despite the dream.

Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!

I am the man who never got ahead,

The poorest worker bartered through the years.

However I'one thousand the one who dreamt our basic dream

In the Sometime World while still a serf of kings,

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

That even yet its mighty daring sings

In every brick and rock, in every furrow turned

That'south made America the country it has become.

O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas

In search of what I meant to exist my home—

For I'm the ane who left dark Republic of ireland'south shore,

And Poland'south obviously, and England'southward grassy lea,

And torn from Black Africa'due south strand I came

To build a "homeland of the free."

The gratuitous?

Who said the free? Not me?

Surely not me? The millions on relief today?

The millions shot down when nosotros 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 nada for our pay—

Except the dream that'south near dead today.

O, let America be America over again—

The land that never has been yet—

And even so must be—the country where every man is free.

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

ME—

Who made America,

Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,

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

Must bring dorsum our mighty dream again.

Certain, telephone call me any ugly name you lot choose—

The steel of freedom does not stain.

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

We must accept back our country once again,

America!

O, yes, I say it plain,

America never was America to me,

And yet I swear this oath—

America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster expiry,

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

We, the people, must redeem

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

The mountains and the countless plain—

All, all the stretch of these great green states—

And make America once again!

Line-By-Line Analysis of "Let America Be America Over again"

This whole poem is a crying out, a passionate plea for America to re-establish the Dream. Information technology 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 i - 4

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

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

Line 5

Well-nigh as an bated, but highly significant, the unmarried line in parentheses reveals that, for the speaker, America as an platonic only hasn't happened. For him, this romantic notion of the American Dream never has been. Why is that?

Lines six - 9

The 2nd lyrical quatrain, with like rhyme blueprint, places stronger accent on the dream, the original vision people had for the The states, ane of love and equality. In that location would be no feudal system in place, no dictatorships - anybody would be equal.

Note the contrast of the linguistic communication used here. There is the dream and love of those who would be equal, against those who would connive, scheme and beat out.

Line 10

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

Lines 11 - 14

The third quatrain, with alternate rhyme for familiarity, highlights the outer ideals - the dressing upward of Liberty merely for show, which is phoney patriotism. The capital L reinforces the idea that this could exist the Statue of Liberty, the famous icon, based on a goddess, who holds the Declaration 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 make information technology manifest in opportunity and equality, for all. The suggestion that equality could be in the air people breathe, ways that equality should be a natural given, role of the fabric that keeps united states all live, sharing the common air.

Lines 15 - xvi

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

Further Analysis

Lines 17 - eighteen

In italics for special reasons, these lines, two questions, stand for a turning betoken in the verse form; they are a unlike attribute of the speaker's identity. These two questions await dorsum, questioning the speaker'due south negativity (in parentheses) and also look forward.

The metaphor of the veil has biblical connections (in Corinthians) alluding to a darkening of reality, of not being able to see the truth.

Lines 19 - 24

The offset of the sextets, six lines which limited yet some other aspect of the speaker, who now speaks equally and for, one of the oppressed, in the starting time person, I am. Yet, this voice also expresses the collective, articulating a mass sentiment.

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

Lines 25 - 30

The second sextet focuses on the young man, any young human no matter, caught up in the industrial chaos of profit for profit'south sake, where greed is good and power is the ultimate goal. The ugly, unacceptable face of capitalism encourages only selfishness at whatever expense.

Lines 31 - 38

Over again, employ of the repeated phrase I am brings dwelling the message loud and clear in this octet: the system is cruellest to those who are poorest. From the farmer to the servant, from the state to the fine houses of the wealthy, for many the Dream ways just hunger and poverty.

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

Lines 39 - 50

The longest stanza in the verse form, 12 lines, concentrates on the history of those immigrants who dreamt of cardinal freedoms in the first place. This is the vicious irony. Those fleeing poverty, war and oppression; those forced to leave their native lands, had this dream within, a dream of beingness truly complimentary in a new state.

They travelled to America in the promise of realizing this dream. People from Former 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 unmarried line, another strong question. The previous twelve lines (the previous 50 lines) all led to this acute bespeak. A unproblematic nevertheless searching ask.

Lines 52 - 61

The next 10 lines explore this notion of the free. But the speaker seems perplexed - where did this crazy question originate? It's equally if the speaker doesn't know himself any longer, or the reasons why the question of the costless should ascend. Just exactly who are the free?

There are millions with little or nothing. When labor is withdrawn and legitimate protest arranged, the authorities counteract with the bullet. Protest songs and banners and promise count for footling - all that'southward left is a barely breathing dream.

Lines 62 - 70

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 heart, this fourth dimension more than personal - ME - nonetheless taking in many different types of people.

In these nine lines the reader truly gets to know the speaker's intention and demand. Freedom for all. It's most a call to rise up and take back what belongs to the many and not the few.

Lines 71 - 75

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

Lines 76 - 79

A short quatrain, a kind of summing up of the speaker'due south whole accept on the American Dream. A direct declaration - the Dream volition manifest at some time. It has to.

Lines eighty - 86

The concluding septet concludes that, out of the old rotten, criminal organisation, the people will renew and refresh and rebuild something wholesome and sustainable. In that location remains hope that the cherished ideal - America - tin can exist made practiced over again.

Literary Devices in Let America Be America Over again

Let America Be America Once again is an 86 line poem split into 17 stanzas, 3 of which are single lines, 2 of which are couplets. In addition, at that place are 4 quatrains, ii sextets, 1 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 song lyric, with quatrains followed by single lines and very short lines turning up in mid-stanza.

Let'due south take a closer wait at the literary devices:

Rhyme Scheme

Rhymes tend to bring familiarity and aid reinforce meaning. In poetry, there are elementary rhyme schemes and there are challenging ones. In this poem the rhyming pattern starts in a conventional manner only gradually becomes more than complex.

For example, take a look at the get-go half-dozen stanzas:

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

This is relatively easy to follow. There is an alternate pattern in the first 3 quatrains, with the potent total vowel rhyme e dominant:

be/costless/me/me/Liberty/free/me/complimentary.

The total end rhymes leave the reader in no dubiousness about one of the master themes of this poem - freedom and me. A strong pairing ensures a memorable bond.

So, the starting time 16 lines are straightforward enough. Subsequently this the rhyme scheme gradually loses its regular pattern and becomes stretched.

• Withal farther down the line so to speak, there are still loose echoes of the familiar alternating blueprint established at the beginning of the poem.

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

soil/all with automobile/hateful and become/complimentary with lea/costless.

Camber rhyme tends to challenge the reader considering information technology is virtually to full rhyme but isn't full rhyme to the ear, as in soil/all. It ways things aren't clicking in full, they're a little bit out of harmony.

Equally the poem progresses, rhyme becomes more intermittent and tends to condense in certain stanzas, as in stanza xiii, pay/today and stanza 14, pain/rain/once more. The poet's aim with such concentrated rhyme is to brand the words stick in the reader's heed and memory.

Literary Device (two)

Anaphora

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

From the first stanza - Permit America/Allow it exist/Let information technology exist - to the terminal - The land, the plants, the mines, the rivers - there are repeats. Some critics take likened them to vocal lyrics, others to parts of a political speech, where ideas and images are built upwards again and over again.

Alliteration

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

In the first four stanzas:

pioneer on the evidently/abode where he himself/dream the dreamers dreamed/state be a land where Liberty/slavery's scars.

Enjambment

Enjambment, when a line continues without punctuation on into the adjacent, keeping the flow of sense, occurs in several stanzas. Wait out for the 'open up' end lines which encourage the reader to non suspension but go on straight into the next line.

For example:

Allow it be the pioneer on the obviously

Seeking a home where he himself is freeastward.

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 state!

Personification

That even even so its mighty daring sing

in every brick and stone, in every furrow turned

Sources

www.poets.org

Norton Anthology,Norton, 2005

https://uwc.utexas.edu

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

© 2017 Andrew Spacey

phillipskins1938.blogspot.com

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

Share this post