Let America Be America Again Summary Shmoop
Andrew has a corking interest in all aspects of poesy and writes extensively on the discipline. His poems are published online and in print.
Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes And A Summary of "Let America Be America Once 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 incommunicable.
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 twenty-four hours existence makes the dream a cruel illusion. The verse form explores the darker areas of life, the history of exploitation for instance, 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 mode forward with promise.
Langston Hughes was going through a hard period in his life when he wrote this verse form. He knew he wanted to earn a living through writing, but couldn't sustain his efforts, despite poetry book publication, most notably The Weary Dejection.
Information technology was on a train journey through Low-struck America in 1935 that inspired him to pen this archetype 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 world of black literature, following his earlier work in the and so-called Harlem Renaissance, an upbeat black creative motion peaking in the 1920s.
"Let America Be America Again" reflects the many influences in Hughes's verse - 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.
Allow America Be America Over again
Permit America be America once again.
Let it be the dream it used to exist.
Allow it exist the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
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(America never was America to me.)
Permit America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Allow it exist that great strong land of honey
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
(It never was America to me.)
O, let my country be a country where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the complimentary.")
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 ruby-red homo driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the promise I seek—
And finding but the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat domestic dog, of mighty beat the weak.
I am the boyfriend, full of strength and promise,
Tangled in that ancient endless concatenation
Of profit, power, gain, of catch the land!
Of grab the gold! Of catch the means of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for 1'south own greed!
I am the farmer, bondservant to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to yous all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—
Hungry still today despite the dream.
Browbeaten yet today—O, Pioneers!
I am the homo who never got alee,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.
However I'm the i who dreamt our basic dream
In the Sometime World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream and so potent, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and rock, in every furrow turned
That's fabricated America the land information technology has get.
O, I'm the human being who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to exist my dwelling—
For I'm the i who left dark Ireland'south shore,
And Poland'south plain, and England'southward grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the gratuitous."
The gratuitous?
Who said the gratuitous? Not 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 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 take naught for our pay—
Except the dream that's almost dead today.
O, let America exist America again—
The state that never has been all the same—
And all the same must be—the state where every man is free.
The land that'due south mine—the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's,
ME—
Who made America,
Whose sweat and claret, whose organized religion and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.
Sure, telephone call me any ugly 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 state again,
America!
O, yes, I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America volition be!
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 land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And brand America once 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-establish the Dream. Information technology is a kind of personal hymn, a lyrical voice communication, to freedom and equality. To enable that plea to be heard and felt, the speaker has to accept the reader through some nighttime times, through history, to explicate merely why that Dream needs to live once again.
Lines one - 4
Alternate rhyme, repetition and alliteration are all at play in this the get-go stanza, almost a vocal lyric. It'south a straight call for the old America to exist brought back 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 five
Near as an aside, simply highly meaning, the unmarried line in parentheses reveals that, for the speaker, America as an ideal just hasn't happened. For him, this romantic notion of the American Dream never has been. Why is that?
Lines 6 - 9
The second lyrical quatrain, with similar rhyme blueprint, places stronger emphasis on the dream, the original vision people had for the The states, ane of beloved and equality. There would exist no feudal arrangement in place, no dictatorships - anybody would be equal.
Note the dissimilarity of the language used here. There is the dream and dear of those who would be equal, confronting those who would connive, scheme and crush.
Line 10
Some other line in parentheses, as if the speaker is quietly reasserting his inner voice - 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 3rd quatrain, with alternating rhyme for familiarity, highlights the outer ethics - the dressing upwards of Liberty merely for prove, which is phoney patriotism. The uppercase L reinforces the thought that this could be 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 it manifest in opportunity and equality, for all. The suggestion that equality could be in the air people breathe, ways that equality should exist a natural given, part of the textile that keeps u.s.a. all alive, sharing the mutual air.
Lines xv - 16
The rhyming couplet in parentheses in one case once again repeats that, for the speaker personally, equality has been out of attain, perhaps just has never existed. Same goes for freedom. (Homeland of the gratuitous - could be based on the Star-Spangled Banner lyrics 'state of the free.')
Farther Analysis
Lines 17 - 18
In italics for special reasons, these lines, 2 questions, represent a turning indicate in the poem; they are a different aspect of the speaker'due south identity. These 2 questions expect back, 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 non beingness able to see the truth.
Lines 19 - 24
The first of the sextets, six lines which express yet another aspect of the speaker, who now speaks as and for, 1 of the oppressed, in the first person, I am. Yet, this vocalization as well 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 to the brutal competition and the hierarchical systems imposed upon them.
Lines 25 - 30
The 2nd sextet focuses on the boyfriend, any fellow no matter, caught up in the industrial chaos of profit for turn a profit's sake, where greed is good and ability is the ultimate goal. The ugly, unacceptable confront of capitalism encourages only selfishness at whatever expense.
Lines 31 - 38
Again, apply of the repeated phrase I am brings abode 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 country to the fine houses of the wealthy, for many the Dream means only hunger and poverty.
Workers become de-humanized, get mere numbers and are treated equally if they are commodities or coin.
Lines 39 - 50
The longest stanza in the poem, 12 lines, concentrates on the history of those immigrants who dreamt of fundamental freedoms in the start place. This is the cruel irony. Those fleeing poverty, state of war and oppression; those forced to leave their native lands, had this dream inside, a dream of being truly gratis in a new land.
They travelled to America in the hope of realizing this dream. People from Onetime Europe, many from Africa, all set out for a new life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (Thomas Jefferson).
More than Line By Line Analysis
Line 51
A single line, another strong question. The previous twelve lines (the previous l lines) all led to this astute point. A simple yet searching ask.
Lines 52 - 61
The next ten lines explore this notion of the free. Simply 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 gratuitous should arise. Just exactly who are the gratis?
At that place are millions with petty or naught. When labor is withdrawn and legitimate protest bundled, the authorities annul with the bullet. Protest songs and banners and hope count for little - all that's left is a barely animate dream.
Lines 62 - lxx
The speaker takes a deep breath and repeats the opening line, but with more emotional input.....O, let America be America again. This is a plea from the heart, this fourth dimension more personal - ME - nevertheless taking in many different types of people.
In these nine lines the reader truly gets to know the speaker'due south intention and need. Freedom for all. It's about a call to rise up and take dorsum 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 kickoff thinking once again about buying and rights to property.
Lines 76 - 79
A curt quatrain, a kind of summing up of the speaker's whole have on the American Dream. A directly declaration - the Dream volition manifest at some time. It has to.
Lines 80 - 86
The concluding 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 - tin exist made good again.
Literary Devices in Let America Exist America Over again
Let America Be America Again is an 86 line poem split into 17 stanzas, 3 of which are single lines, 2 of which are couplets. In addition, in that location are 4 quatrains, two sextets, one octet, a twelve liner, 10 liner, ix liner, quintet, and a seven liner.
The layout is quite unusual. On the page the poem looks more than like an extended song lyric, with quatrains followed by unmarried lines and very short lines turning up in mid-stanza.
Let's take a closer look at the literary devices:
Rhyme Scheme
Rhymes tend to bring familiarity and aid reinforce meaning. In poetry, at that place are elementary rhyme schemes and at that place are challenging ones. In this poem the rhyming design starts in a conventional mode only gradually becomes more complex.
For example, have a look at the start six stanzas:
- abab - (b) - cdcd - (b) - bebe - (bb)
This is relatively easy to follow. There is an alternate blueprint in the start 3 quatrains, with the strong full vowel rhyme e ascendant:
be/free/me/me/Liberty/costless/me/complimentary.
The total cease rhymes leave the reader in no uncertainty about i of the main themes of this poem - liberty and me. A stiff pairing ensures a memorable bond.
So, the first 16 lines are straightforward enough. After this the rhyme scheme gradually loses its regular pattern and becomes stretched.
- Withal further down the line and so to speak, there are still loose echoes of the familiar alternating pattern 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 machine/mean and get/gratuitous with lea/free.
Slant rhyme tends to challenge the reader because it is near to total rhyme but isn't full rhyme to the ear, every bit in soil/all. It means things aren't clicking in full, they're a little chip 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 xiv, pain/rain/again. The poet's aim with such full-bodied rhyme is to brand the words stick in the reader's mind and retentivity.
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 effect to chanting, reinforcing meaning and giving the experience of ability and aggregating of energy.
From the starting time stanza - Let America/Let information technology exist/Let it be - to the last - The land, the plants, the mines, the rivers - in that location are repeats. Some critics have likened them to song lyrics, others to parts of a political speech, where ideas and images are built upwards again and once more.
Ingemination
There are numerous examples of alliterative lines - when words with leading consonants are close together - which bring texture and involvement to lines and a claiming to the reader.
In the first four stanzas:
pioneer on the plainly/home where he himself/dream the dreamers dreamed/land be a land where Freedom/slavery's 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' end lines which encourage the reader to not pause but go on straight into the next line.
For case:
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a dwelling where he himself is freeastward.
and once again:
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
Metaphor
Tangled in that endless ancient chain
of profit, power, gain, of take hold of the country!
Personification
That even notwithstanding its mighty daring sing
in every brick and rock, in every furrow turned
Sources
world wide web.poets.org
Norton Album,Norton, 2005
https://uwc.utexas.edu
100 Essential Modern Poems, Ivan Dee, Joseph Parisi, 2005
© 2017 Andrew Spacey
Source: https://owlcation.com/humanities/Analysis-of-Poem-Let-America-Be-America-Again-by-Langston-Hughes