Let America Be America Again Line by Line Analysis

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 Again"

"Let 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 verse form outlines the reasons why this ideal America has gone, or never was, only could yet be.

For the poor, the oppressed and the downtrodden, the reality of day to day existence makes the dream a savage 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 upwardly America, both black and white.

Whilst pessimistic and hard hitting, the poem does have an optimistic catastrophe and lights the way forrard with hope.

Langston Hughes was going through a difficult menstruation 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 volume publication, most notably The Weary Dejection.

It was on a train journey through Depression-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 become a noted if controversial figure in the globe of black literature, following his earlier work in the then-called Harlem Renaissance, an upbeat blackness creative movement peaking in the 1920s.

"Let America Be America Again" reflects the many influences in Hughes's 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.

Permit America Be America Again

Allow America be America again.

Let it be the dream information technology used to exist.

Permit it be the pioneer on the plain

Seeking a home where he himself is gratis.

Read More From Owlcation

(America never was America to me.)

Let America exist the dream the dreamers dreamed—

Permit it be that great potent country of dear

Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme

That any human being 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,

Just opportunity is existent, and life is costless,

Equality is in the air we exhale.

(At that place'due south never been equality for me,

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

Say, who are yous that mumbles in the dark?

And who are you lot that draws your veil beyond the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed autonomously,

I am the Negro bearing slavery'southward scars.

I am the red human driven from the state,

I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—

And finding only the same old stupid plan

Of dog swallow dog, of mighty beat the weak.

I am the fellow, total of strength and hope,

Tangled in that ancient endless chain

Of turn a profit, power, gain, of take hold of the land!

Of take hold of the gold! Of take hold of the ways of satisfying need!

Of work the men! Of take the pay!

Of owning everything for one'south own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.

I am the worker sold to the automobile.

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

I am the people, humble, 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.

Withal I'm the ane who dreamt our basic dream

In the Old World while still a serf of kings,

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

That fifty-fifty nevertheless its mighty daring sings

In every brick and rock, in every furrow turned

That's made America the state it has go.

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

In search of what I meant to be my abode—

For I'thou the one who left dark Republic of ireland'southward shore,

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

And torn from Black Africa's strand I came

To build a "homeland of the free."

The complimentary?

Who said the gratis? Not me?

Surely not me? The millions on relief today?

The millions shot downwards when we strike?

The millions who have cypher 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 nosotros've hung,

The millions who accept nil for our pay—

Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America once again—

The land that never has been withal—

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

The country that'south mine—the poor homo'due south, Indian'south, Negro's,

ME—

Who made America,

Whose sweat and blood, whose religion and pain,

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

Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, telephone call me any ugly proper noun yous choose—

The steel of freedom does not stain.

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

We must accept back our land again,

America!

O, yes, I say it plain,

America never was America to me,

And nevertheless I swear this oath—

America volition exist!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,

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

We, the people, must redeem

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

The mountains and the endless apparently—

All, all the stretch of these great green states—

And make America again!

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

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

Lines 1 - 4

Alternate rhyme, repetition and alliteration are all at play in this the get-go stanza, almost a song lyric. It's a straight call for the one-time America to be brought back to life again, to be revived.

Notation the mention of the pioneer, those start seekers of freedom who with tremendous will and effort established themselves a home, against all the odds.

Line v

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

Lines six - 9

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

Annotation the contrast of the language used here. There is the dream and love of those who would exist equal, against those who would connive, scheme and crush.

Line 10

Another line in parentheses, as if the speaker is quietly reasserting his inner vocalization - 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 11 - 14

The third quatrain, with alternate rhyme for familiarity, highlights the outer ethics - the dressing up of Liberty simply for show, which is phoney patriotism. The capital 50 reinforces the idea that this could be the Statue of Liberty, the famous icon, based on a goddess, who holds the Announcement of Independence in one manus and the torch in the other. Broken chains 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, part of the material that keeps us 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, perhaps but has never existed. Same goes for freedom. (Homeland of the gratuitous - could be based on the Star-Spangled Banner lyrics 'land of the free.')

Farther Analysis

Lines 17 - 18

In italics for special reasons, these lines, 2 questions, represent a turning point in the poem; they are a different aspect of the speaker's identity. These ii questions wait back, questioning the speaker'southward negativity (in parentheses) and besides wait forrard.

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

Lines 19 - 24

The first of the sextets, six lines which limited still another attribute of the speaker, who now speaks as and for, one of the oppressed, in the first person, I am. Yet, this vox 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 discipline to the brutal contest and the hierarchical systems imposed upon them.

Lines 25 - 30

The second sextet focuses on the fellow, any young homo no affair, caught up in the industrial chaos of turn a profit for profit'due south sake, where greed is good and power is the ultimate goal. The ugly, unacceptable face of commercialism encourages only selfishness at any expense.

Lines 31 - 38

Again, utilise 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 means only hunger and poverty.

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

Lines 39 - l

The longest stanza in the verse form, 12 lines, concentrates on the history of those immigrants who dreamt of fundamental freedoms in the first 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 country.

They travelled to America in the hope of realizing this dream. People from Sometime Europe, many from Africa, all ready 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 point. A simple yet searching inquire.

Lines 52 - 61

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

In that location are millions with little or zero. When labor is withdrawn and legitimate protest arranged, the regime counteract with the bullet. Protestation songs and banners and promise count for little - all that's left is a barely breathing dream.

Lines 62 - 70

The speaker takes a deep breath and repeats the opening line, only with more emotional input.....O, let America be America again. This is a plea from the heart, this time more than personal - ME - however 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 almost a call to ascension upward and take back what belongs to the many and not the few.

Lines 71 - 75

No matter the corruption, the pursuit of liberty 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 most ownership and rights to holding.

Lines 76 - 79

A brusque quatrain, a kind of summing upward of the speaker'south whole take on the American Dream. A straight annunciation - the Dream will manifest at some time. Information technology has to.

Lines 80 - 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 hope that the cherished ideal - America - can be made good once again.

Literary Devices in Allow America Be America Again

Let America Be America Again is an 86 line poem dissever into 17 stanzas, three of which are single lines, 2 of which are couplets. In addition, in that location are 4 quatrains, 2 sextets, 1 octet, a twelve liner, ten liner, nine liner, quintet, and a seven liner.

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

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

Rhyme Scheme

Rhymes tend to bring familiarity and help reinforce pregnant. In verse, there are simple rhyme schemes and there are challenging ones. In this verse form the rhyming blueprint starts in a conventional manner simply gradually becomes more circuitous.

For example, take a await at the offset 6 stanzas:

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

This is relatively easy to follow. In that location is an alternating design in the first three quatrains, with the strong full vowel rhyme e ascendant:

be/free/me/me/Freedom/free/me/free.

The full end rhymes leave the reader in no doubtfulness about 1 of the main themes of this poem - freedom and me. A strong pairing ensures a memorable bond.

So, the kickoff sixteen lines are straightforward enough. Later on this the rhyme scheme gradually loses its regular pattern and becomes stretched.

• However further downward the line so to speak, there are nevertheless loose echoes of the familiar alternating pattern established at the first of the poem.

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

soil/all with machine/mean and become/gratis with lea/gratis.

Camber rhyme tends to claiming the reader because it is near to full rhyme but isn't full rhyme to the ear, as in soil/all. It means things aren't clicking in full, they're a piddling fleck 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 14, pain/rain/again. The poet's aim with such full-bodied rhyme is to make the words stick in the reader's mind and memory.

Literary Device (2)

Anaphora

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

From the first stanza - Let America/Allow it exist/Let it exist - to the last - The land, the plants, the mines, the rivers - there are repeats. Some critics have likened them to vocal lyrics, others to parts of a political voice communication, where ideas and images are congenital up again and again.

Alliteration

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

In the start iv stanzas:

pioneer on the patently/home where he himself/dream the dreamers dreamed/country be a land where Freedom/slavery's scars.

Enjambment

Enjambment, when a line continues without punctuation on into the next, keeping the menstruation of sense, occurs in several stanzas. Look out for the 'open' end lines which encourage the reader to not pause but continue direct into the side by side line.

For instance:

Let information technology be the pioneer on the plain

Seeking a domicile where he himself is fredue east.

and once again:

We, the people, must redeem

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

Metaphor

Tangled in that endless ancient concatenation

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

Personification

That fifty-fifty yet 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

hayesnoutiones.blogspot.com

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