Meaning of Let America Be America Again

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

Langston Hughes

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

"Let America Be America Again" focuses on the thought of the American dream and how, for many, attaining liberty, 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 however be.

For the poor, the oppressed and the downtrodden, the reality of day to twenty-four hours existence makes the dream a fell 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 manner forwards with hope.

Langston Hughes was going through a hard 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 Dejection.

It 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 so-chosen Harlem Renaissance, an upbeat black artistic movement peaking in the 1920s.

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

Permit America Be America Again

Let America exist America over again.

Let it be the dream it used to be.

Permit it be the pioneer on the manifestly

Seeking a dwelling where he himself is gratuitous.

Ringlet to Continue

Read More From Owlcation

(America never was America to me.)

Allow America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—

Let it exist that great strong land of dearest

Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme

That whatsoever man be crushed by one higher up.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land exist a land where Liberty

Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,

Only opportunity is real, and life is gratuitous,

Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There'south never been equality for me,

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

Say, who are you that mumbles in the nighttime?

And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed autonomously,

I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.

I am the red man driven from the country,

I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—

And finding only the same old stupid plan

Of dog eat dog, of mighty beat the weak.

I am the swain, full of force and hope,

Tangled in that ancient endless chain

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

Of take hold of the gold! Of grab the means of satisfying need!

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

Of owning everything for i'south own greed!

I am the farmer, bondservant to the soil.

I am the worker sold to the motorcar.

I am the Negro, servant to you all.

I am the people, humble, hungry, hateful—

Hungry yet today despite the dream.

Browbeaten yet today—O, Pioneers!

I am the human being who never got alee,

The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream

In the Onetime World while withal a serf of kings,

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

That even even so its mighty daring sings

In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned

That'south fabricated America the state it has become.

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

In search of what I meant to be my home—

For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,

And Poland's plainly, and England'southward grassy lea,

And torn from Black Africa'southward strand I came

To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?

Surely not me? The millions on relief today?

The millions shot down when we strike?

The millions who accept cipher 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 nearly dead today.

O, permit America exist America once again—

The land that never has been yet—

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

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

ME—

Who fabricated America,

Whose sweat and blood, whose organized religion and hurting,

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

Must bring dorsum our mighty dream once again.

Sure, call me any ugly proper noun you cull—

The steel of freedom does not stain.

From those who alive like leeches on the people'southward lives,

We must take back our land again,

America!

O, aye, I say information technology apparently,

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 state, the mines, the plants, the rivers.

The mountains and the countless plain—

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

And brand America again!

Line-Past-Line Analysis of "Let America Exist 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 spoken communication, to freedom and equality. To enable that plea to exist heard and felt, the speaker has to take the reader through some dark times, through history, to explicate only why that Dream needs to live again.

Lines 1 - 4

Alternate rhyme, repetition and ingemination are all at play in this the beginning stanza, well-nigh a song lyric. Information technology's a direct call for the old America to be brought back to life once more, to be revived.

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

Line 5

Almost equally an aside, but highly meaning, the unmarried line in parentheses reveals that, for the speaker, America every bit an ideal but 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 United states of america, one of love and equality. In that location would be no feudal system in place, no dictatorships - everyone would be equal.

Notation the contrast of the language used here. At that place is the dream and love of those who would be equal, against those who would connive, scheme and crush.

Line ten

Another line in parentheses, every bit if the speaker is quietly reasserting his inner voice - once more 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 ideals - the dressing upwards of Liberty just for show, which is phoney patriotism. The capital Fifty 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. Cleaved bondage lie at her feet.

The plea continues, to brand the dream possible, to go far manifest in opportunity and equality, for all. The proposition that equality could be in the air people breathe, means that equality should exist a natural given, part of the fabric that keeps the states all alive, sharing the mutual air.

Lines fifteen - 16

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

Further Analysis

Lines 17 - 18

In italics for special reasons, these lines, two questions, stand for a turning point in the poem; they are a unlike aspect of the speaker's identity. These two questions look back, questioning the speaker's negativity (in parentheses) and as well look frontward.

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

Lines xix - 24

The first of the sextets, six lines which express yet some other aspect of the speaker, who now speaks as and for, ane of the oppressed, in the first person, I am. Even so, this voice also expresses the commonage, articulating a mass sentiment.

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

Lines 25 - thirty

The 2d sextet focuses on the swain, whatever young man no affair, caught up in the industrial anarchy of turn a profit for profit's sake, where greed is good and power is the ultimate goal. The ugly, unacceptable face up of capitalism encourages only selfishness at any expense.

Lines 31 - 38

Once more, apply of the repeated phrase I am brings dwelling house the bulletin loud and clear in this octet: the system is cruellest to those who are poorest. From the farmer to the retainer, from the country to the fine houses of the wealthy, for many the Dream ways only hunger and poverty.

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

Lines 39 - fifty

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

They travelled to America in the hope of realizing this dream. People from One-time Europe, many from Africa, all set out for a new life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (Thomas Jefferson).

More Line By Line Assay

Line 51

A single line, another stiff 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 ten lines explore this notion of the complimentary. Only the speaker seems perplexed - where did this crazy question originate? It'southward as if the speaker doesn't know himself whatever longer, or the reasons why the question of the free should ascend. Just exactly who are the free?

At that place are millions with petty or zip. When labor is withdrawn and legitimate protest arranged, the authorities counteract with the bullet. Protest songs and banners and promise count for niggling - all that's left is a barely breathing dream.

Lines 62 - seventy

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

In these nine lines the reader truly gets to know the speaker's intention and demand. Liberty for all. Information technology'due south almost a call to rise up and take dorsum what belongs to the many and not the few.

Lines 71 - 75

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

Lines 76 - 79

A brusk quatrain, a kind of summing up of the speaker'south whole take on the American Dream. A directly declaration - the Dream volition manifest at some time. It has to.

Lines lxxx - 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 promise that the cherished ideal - America - can be made good over again.

Literary Devices in Allow America Exist America Once more

Permit America Be America Again is an 86 line verse form separate into 17 stanzas, 3 of which are single lines, 2 of which are couplets. In addition, there are 4 quatrains, two sextets, 1 octet, a twelve liner, x liner, 9 liner, quintet, and a seven liner.

The layout is quite unusual. On the page the poem looks more similar an extended song lyric, with quatrains followed by single 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 help reinforce meaning. In poesy, there are uncomplicated rhyme schemes and there are challenging ones. In this poem the rhyming pattern starts in a conventional fashion but gradually becomes more complex.

For example, have a look at the get-go half-dozen 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 first 3 quatrains, with the potent full vowel rhyme due east dominant:

exist/free/me/me/Liberty/complimentary/me/free.

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

And then, the first 16 lines are straightforward enough. Subsequently this the rhyme scheme gradually loses its regular pattern and becomes stretched.

• However further downwardly the line then to speak, there are still loose echoes of the familiar alternating design established at the first of the poem.

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

soil/all with machine/mean and become/costless with lea/free.

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. Information technology means things aren't clicking in full, they're a little bit out of harmony.

As the poem progresses, rhyme becomes more intermittent and tends to condense in certain stanzas, as in stanza xiii, pay/today and stanza 14, hurting/rain/again. The poet'south aim with such full-bodied rhyme is to make the words stick in the reader'due south mind and retentiveness.

Literary Device (2)

Anaphora

Repetition plays an important role in this poem and occurs throughout. When words and phrases are repeated this has a similar effect to chanting, reinforcing pregnant and giving the feel of ability and aggregating of energy.

From the beginning stanza - Let America/Permit 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 vocal lyrics, others to parts of a political speech, where ideas and images are built up over again and again.

Alliteration

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

In the first four stanzas:

pioneer on the plain/dwelling where he himself/dream the dreamers dreamed/state exist a land where Liberty/slavery'southward scars.

Enjambment

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

For example:

Allow information technology be the pioneer on the obviously

Seeking a dwelling house where he himself is fredue east.

and over again:

We, the people, must redeem

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

Metaphor

Tangled in that endless ancient concatenation

of turn a profit, ability, gain, of grab the land!

Personification

That fifty-fifty nevertheless its mighty daring sing

in every brick and rock, 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

conleywhasuff.blogspot.com

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

Share this post