Let America Be America Again. Langston Hughes.

Andrew has a keen involvement 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 "Allow America Be America Again"

"Let 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 nearly on impossible.

The speaker in the verse form outlines the reasons why this ideal America has gone, or never was, but could nevertheless be.

For the poor, the oppressed and the downtrodden, the reality of 24-hour interval to twenty-four hour period existence makes the dream a savage illusion. The poem explores the darker areas of life, the history of exploitation for case, and outlines the unique struggles of the poor who make upwards America, both black and white.

Whilst pessimistic and hard striking, the verse form does have an optimistic ending and lights the style forrad with hope.

Langston Hughes was going through a difficult menses in his life when he wrote this poem. He knew he wanted to earn a living through writing, but couldn't sustain his efforts, despite poetry book publication, nigh notably The Weary Blues.

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

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

"Permit America Be America Over again" reflects the many influences in Hughes's poetry - from the expansive piece of work of Whitman to street language, from jazz rhythm to the steady iambic lines of before black poets such as Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Let America Exist America Again

Permit America be America again.

Let it be the dream it used to be.

Allow it be the pioneer on the evidently

Seeking a habitation where he himself is free.

Coil to Continue

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(America never was America to me.)

Permit America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—

Allow it be that great potent land of dearest

Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme

That any human exist crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty

Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,

Just opportunity is existent, and life is free,

Equality is in the air we exhale.

(In that location'due south never been equality for me,

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

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?

And who are y'all 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 cherry human driven from the state,

I am the immigrant clutching the promise I seek—

And finding but the same old stupid plan

Of dog swallow domestic dog, of mighty trounce the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,

Tangled in that ancient endless chain

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

Of grab the gilded! Of catch the means of satisfying need!

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

Of owning everything for 1's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.

I am the worker sold to the machine.

I am the Negro, retainer to you all.

I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—

Hungry still today despite the dream.

Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!

I am the human who never got ahead,

The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream

In the Onetime Globe while still a serf of kings,

Who dreamt a dream then strong, and then brave, so true,

That even yet its mighty daring sings

In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned

That'due south made America the country it has become.

O, I'm the human being who sailed those early seas

In search of what I meant to be my home—

For I'm the ane who left night Republic of ireland's shore,

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

And torn from Black Africa's strand I came

To build a "homeland of the free."

The gratis?

Who said the free? Non 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 nosotros'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 nothing for our pay—

Except the dream that's nearly expressionless today.

O, let America be America over again—

The land that never has been yet—

And even so must be—the land where every human is free.

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

ME—

Who fabricated America,

Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,

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

Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Certain, telephone call me whatever ugly proper name you choose—

The steel of freedom does not stain.

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

We must take dorsum our land again,

America!

O, yes, I say information technology manifestly,

America never was America to me,

And yet I swear this oath—

America will be!

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 land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.

The mountains and the endless evidently—

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

And make America again!

Line-Past-Line Assay of "Let America Exist America Over again"

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

Lines 1 - 4

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

Annotation the mention of the pioneer, those first seekers of freedom who with tremendous volition and effort established themselves a domicile, against all the odds.

Line v

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

Lines 6 - ix

The 2nd lyrical quatrain, with similar rhyme pattern, places stronger emphasis on the dream, the original vision people had for the USA, 1 of love and equality. There would be no feudal system in identify, no dictatorships - anybody would be equal.

Notation the dissimilarity of the language used here. There is the dream and love of those who would exist equal, against those who would connive, scheme and beat out.

Line ten

Another line in parentheses, as if the speaker is quietly reasserting his inner vocalism - again making the point 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 eleven - 14

The third quatrain, with alternating rhyme for familiarity, highlights the outer ideals - the dressing up of Liberty merely for testify, 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 brand the dream possible, to arrive manifest in opportunity and equality, for all. The proposition that equality could be in the air people breathe, means that equality should be a natural given, part of the fabric that keeps u.s. all alive, sharing the mutual air.

Lines 15 - 16

The rhyming couplet in parentheses once again repeats that, for the speaker personally, equality has been out of reach, possibly merely has never existed. Same goes for liberty. (Homeland of the gratuitous - could be based on the Star-Spangled Imprint lyrics 'state of the complimentary.')

Farther Analysis

Lines 17 - xviii

In italics for special reasons, these lines, two questions, represent a turning point in the poem; they are a different aspect of the speaker's identity. These two questions expect back, questioning the speaker'due south negativity (in parentheses) and likewise 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 express however another aspect of the speaker, who now speaks every bit and for, i of the oppressed, in the first person, I am. Nevertheless, this vocalism 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 area to the brutal competition and the hierarchical systems imposed upon them.

Lines 25 - 30

The 2nd sextet focuses on the young man, any beau no matter, defenseless up in the industrial chaos of turn a profit for profit'south sake, where greed is proficient and power is the ultimate goal. The ugly, unacceptable confront of capitalism encourages only selfishness at any expense.

Lines 31 - 38

Once more, utilise of the repeated phrase I am brings home the message loud and articulate in this octet: the arrangement is cruellest to those who are poorest. From the farmer to the retainer, from the land to the fine houses of the wealthy, for many the Dream ways but hunger and poverty.

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

Lines 39 - fifty

The longest stanza in the verse form, 12 lines, concentrates on the history of those immigrants who dreamt of fundamental freedoms in the offset identify. This is the fell irony. Those fleeing poverty, state of war and oppression; those forced to leave their native lands, had this dream within, a dream of being truly free in a new land.

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

More Line By Line Assay

Line 51

A single line, some other strong question. The previous twelve lines (the previous 50 lines) all led to this acute point. A simple yet searching ask.

Lines 52 - 61

The next ten lines explore this notion of the costless. But the speaker seems perplexed - where did this crazy question originate? Information technology's as if the speaker doesn't know himself any longer, or the reasons why the question of the costless should arise. Just exactly who are the complimentary?

At that place are millions with picayune or null. When labor is withdrawn and legitimate protestation bundled, the government counteract with the bullet. Protest songs and banners and hope count for little - all that'southward left is a barely breathing dream.

Lines 62 - 70

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

In these nine lines the reader truly gets to know the speaker's intention and demand. Freedom for all. It'due south well-nigh a call to ascension up and have back what belongs to the many and not the few.

Lines 71 - 75

No matter the abuse, the pursuit of liberty is pure and strong. Those who have exploited the poor and sucked out their lifeblood (note the simile - like leeches) need to showtime thinking again about ownership and rights to holding.

Lines 76 - 79

A short quatrain, a kind of summing upward of the speaker's whole accept on the American Dream. A direct declaration - the Dream will manifest at some fourth dimension. It has to.

Lines 80 - 86

The final septet concludes that, out of the old rotten, criminal organization, the people will renew and refresh and rebuild something wholesome and sustainable. There remains hope that the cherished ideal - America - can be made proficient again.

Literary Devices in Permit America Exist America Again

Allow America Be America Over again is an 86 line poem carve up into 17 stanzas, 3 of which are single lines, 2 of which are couplets. In add-on, there are iv quatrains, ii sextets, ane octet, a twelve liner, ten liner, nine liner, quintet, and a seven liner.

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

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

Rhyme Scheme

Rhymes tend to bring familiarity and assistance reinforce meaning. In poetry, there are simple rhyme schemes and in that location are challenging ones. In this poem the rhyming pattern starts in a conventional manner but gradually becomes more circuitous.

For example, take a look at the first 6 stanzas:

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

This is relatively piece of cake to follow. At that place is an alternating pattern in the first 3 quatrains, with the strong full vowel rhyme e dominant:

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

The full terminate rhymes leave the reader in no doubt about i of the main themes of this verse form - liberty and me. A strong pairing ensures a memorable bond.

And then, the first 16 lines are straightforward plenty. After this the rhyme scheme gradually loses its regular blueprint and becomes stretched.

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

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

soil/all with machine/hateful and become/free with lea/free.

Slant rhyme tends to challenge the reader because it is near to full rhyme just isn't full rhyme to the ear, as in soil/all. It means things aren't clicking in full, they're a piffling flake out of harmony.

As the poem progresses, rhyme becomes more intermittent and tends to condense in certain stanzas, as in stanza 13, pay/today and stanza fourteen, pain/pelting/again. The poet's aim with such concentrated rhyme is to make the words stick in the reader'southward mind and memory.

Literary Device (2)

Anaphora

Repetition plays an of import part in this verse form and occurs throughout. When words and phrases are repeated this has a like effect to chanting, reinforcing meaning and giving the experience of power and accumulation of energy.

From the commencement stanza - Let America/Let it exist/Let it be - to the last - The land, the plants, the mines, the rivers - there are repeats. Some critics have likened them to song lyrics, others to parts of a political oral communication, where ideas and images are built upward again and again.

Alliteration

There 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 starting time iv stanzas:

pioneer on the patently/dwelling house where he himself/dream the dreamers dreamed/country be a land where Liberty/slavery'due south scars.

Enjambment

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

For example:

Permit information technology be the pioneer on the plain

Seeking a home where he himself is fredue east.

and again:

We, the people, must redeem

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

Metaphor

Tangled in that countless ancient chain

of profit, power, gain, of take hold of the state!

Personification

That even notwithstanding its mighty daring sing

in every brick and stone, in every furrow turned

Sources

world wide web.poets.org

Norton Album,Norton, 2005

https://uwc.utexas.edu

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

© 2017 Andrew Spacey

davieswhoppy.blogspot.com

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

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