In the Poem Let America Be America Again What Two Groups

Andrew has a neat 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 "Allow America Be America Once more"

"Let America Exist 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 platonic America has gone, or never was, simply could still be.

For the poor, the oppressed and the downtrodden, the reality of 24-hour interval to 24-hour interval existence makes the dream a brutal 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 ending and lights the fashion 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, but couldn't sustain his efforts, despite poesy book publication, most notably The Weary Blues.

It was on a train journey through Low-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 magazine and Hughes went on to go a noted if controversial effigy in the globe of blackness 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 Once again" reflects the many influences in Hughes's poetry - from the expansive work of Whitman to street linguistic communication, from jazz rhythm to the steady iambic lines of earlier black poets such equally Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Let America Be America Again

Permit America be America once again.

Let it be the dream it used to be.

Let it be the pioneer on the plain

Seeking a home where he himself is free.

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(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—

Let it be that corking strong land of honey

Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme

That any man exist crushed by 1 above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land exist a land where Liberty

Is crowned with no imitation patriotic wreath,

Merely opportunity is real, and life is free,

Equality is in the air nosotros breathe.

(There's 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 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 man driven from the country,

I am the immigrant clutching the promise I seek—

And finding only the same old stupid programme

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

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

Tangled in that ancient countless concatenation

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

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

Of piece of work the men! Of take 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 nevertheless today—O, Pioneers!

I am the man who never got alee,

The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Nevertheless I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream

In the Old Earth while nevertheless a serf of kings,

Who dreamt a dream then strong, so brave, then truthful,

That even yet its mighty daring sings

In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned

That'south made America the state it has become.

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

In search of what I meant to be my home—

For I'm the one who left dark Republic of ireland's shore,

And Poland's manifestly, and England's 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 down when we 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 zip for our pay—

Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, permit America be America once more—

The land that never has been nevertheless—

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

The land that's mine—the poor man'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 back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you lot 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 over again,

America!

O, yes, I say it plain,

America never was America to me,

And yet I swear this oath—

America will exist!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster expiry,

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 plain—

All, all the stretch of these cracking green states—

And brand America again!

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

This whole verse form 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 liberty and equality. To enable that plea to exist heard and felt, the speaker has to take the reader through some nighttime times, through history, to explain just why that Dream needs to live once more.

Lines i - four

Alternating rhyme, repetition and ingemination are all at play in this the first stanza, almost a song lyric. It'southward a straight call for the old America to exist brought dorsum to life once again, to be revived.

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

Line 5

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

Lines six - ix

The 2d lyrical quatrain, with like rhyme pattern, places stronger emphasis on the dream, the original vision people had for the USA, one of beloved and equality. There would exist no feudal organization in place, no dictatorships - everyone would be equal.

Note the dissimilarity of the language used hither. In that location is the dream and love of those who would be equal, against those who would connive, scheme and crush.

Line 10

Another line in parentheses, every bit if the speaker is quietly reasserting his inner vocalization - once 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 least.

Lines 11 - 14

The third quatrain, with alternate rhyme for familiarity, highlights the outer ideals - the dressing upwardly of Liberty merely for testify, which is phoney patriotism. The capital L reinforces the idea that this could exist the Statue of Freedom, the famous icon, based on a goddess, who holds the Declaration of Independence in one hand and the torch in the other. Broken bondage lie at her feet.

The plea continues, to make the dream possible, to brand 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, office of the fabric that keeps usa all alive, sharing the common air.

Lines xv - 16

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

Further Assay

Lines 17 - 18

In italics for special reasons, these lines, 2 questions, represent a turning point in the verse form; they are a different attribute of the speaker's identity. These two questions look back, questioning the speaker'southward negativity (in parentheses) and likewise look frontward.

The metaphor of the veil has biblical connections (in Corinthians) alluding to a concealment of reality, of not existence able to run across the truth.

Lines 19 - 24

The get-go of the sextets, six lines which express yet another aspect of the speaker, who at present speaks as and for, 1 of the oppressed, in the kickoff person, I am. All the same, 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 field of study to the brutal competition and the hierarchical systems imposed upon them.

Lines 25 - thirty

The 2d sextet focuses on the young human, any boyfriend no affair, caught up in the industrial chaos of profit for profit'due south sake, where greed is good and ability is the ultimate goal. The ugly, unacceptable face up of capitalism encourages only selfishness at any expense.

Lines 31 - 38

Once again, utilize of the repeated phrase I am brings domicile the message loud and clear in this octet: the organisation 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 only hunger and poverty.

Workers become de-humanized, become mere numbers and are treated as if they are bolt or coin.

Lines 39 - 50

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

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, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (Thomas Jefferson).

More Line Past Line Analysis

Line 51

A single line, some other potent question. The previous twelve lines (the previous l lines) all led to this astute point. A simple even so searching ask.

Lines 52 - 61

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

At that place are millions with niggling or nix. When labor is withdrawn and legitimate protest arranged, the authorities counteract with the bullet. Protest songs and banners and hope count for niggling - all that'due south left is a barely animate dream.

Lines 62 - seventy

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

In these nine lines the reader truly gets to know the speaker'due south intention and need. Liberty for all. It's almost 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 strong. Those who take exploited the poor and sucked out their lifeblood (note the simile - like leeches) need to start thinking again about buying and rights to belongings.

Lines 76 - 79

A brusque quatrain, a kind of summing up of the speaker'southward whole have on the American Dream. A straight declaration - the Dream will manifest at some time. Information technology has to.

Lines eighty - 86

The concluding septet concludes that, out of the sometime rotten, criminal arrangement, the people will renew and refresh and rebuild something wholesome and sustainable. There remains hope that the cherished ideal - America - tin be made good once more.

Literary Devices in Allow America Be America Again

Permit America Be America Once again is an 86 line poem split into 17 stanzas, iii of which are single lines, 2 of which are couplets. In addition, there are iv quatrains, two sextets, ane octet, a twelve liner, ten liner, 9 liner, quintet, and a seven liner.

The layout is quite unusual. On the folio the verse form looks more like an extended song lyric, with quatrains followed by unmarried lines and very short lines turning up in mid-stanza.

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

Rhyme Scheme

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

For instance, take a await at the commencement 6 stanzas:

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

This is relatively like shooting fish in a barrel to follow. At that place is an alternating pattern in the start 3 quatrains, with the strong full vowel rhyme e dominant:

be/free/me/me/Liberty/costless/me/gratuitous.

The full end rhymes leave the reader in no doubt about one of the chief themes of this poem - freedom and me. A strong pairing ensures a memorable bail.

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

• Nonetheless further down the line so to speak, there are all the same loose echoes of the familiar alternating pattern established at the first of the poem.

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

soil/all with auto/mean and go/free with lea/costless.

Slant rhyme tends to claiming the reader considering it is well-nigh to full rhyme simply isn't full rhyme to the ear, as in soil/all. Information technology ways things aren't clicking in full, they're a little bit out of harmony.

Every bit the poem progresses, rhyme becomes more intermittent and tends to condense in certain stanzas, as in stanza 13, pay/today and stanza fourteen, hurting/rain/once more. The poet's aim with such concentrated rhyme is to brand the words stick in the reader's mind and retentivity.

Literary Device (2)

Anaphora

Repetition plays an important role in this poem and occurs throughout. When words and phrases are repeated this has a like upshot to chanting, reinforcing meaning and giving the feel of power and accumulation of free energy.

From the start stanza - Let America/Let it be/Let information technology be - to the last - The land, the plants, the mines, the rivers - in that location are repeats. Some critics accept likened them to song lyrics, others to parts of a political oral communication, where ideas and images are built up again and again.

Alliteration

In that location 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 get-go four stanzas:

pioneer on the obviously/habitation where he himself/dream the dreamers dreamed/land be a land where Liberty/slavery's scars.

Enjambment

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

For example:

Allow it be the pioneer on the evidently

Seeking a home where he himself is free.

and once more:

Nosotros, the people, must redeem

The country, the mines, the plants, the rivers.

Metaphor

Tangled in that endless ancient chain

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

Personification

That even nevertheless its mighty daring sing

in every brick and rock, in every furrow turned

Sources

www.poets.org

Norton Album,Norton, 2005

https://uwc.utexas.edu

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

© 2017 Andrew Spacey

ellismille1986.blogspot.com

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

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