What Is the Structure of Let America Be America Again

Andrew has a neat involvement in all aspects of poetry and writes extensively on the bailiwick. His poems are published online and in impress.

Langston Hughes

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

"Let America Be America Once more" focuses on the thought 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, but could still exist.

For the poor, the oppressed and the downtrodden, the reality of solar day to twenty-four hour period 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 upwardly America, both black and white.

Whilst pessimistic and difficult hit, the poem does have an optimistic catastrophe and lights the fashion forwards with promise.

Langston Hughes was going through a difficult period in his life when he wrote this verse form. He knew he wanted to earn a living through writing, only couldn't sustain his efforts, despite poetry book publication, most notably The Weary Dejection.

Information technology 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 before work in the so-called Harlem Renaissance, an upbeat black artistic move peaking in the 1920s.

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

Let America Be America Again

Let America be America again.

Let it be the dream it used to exist.

Let it be the pioneer on the plain

Seeking a home where he himself is costless.

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(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—

Allow it be that nifty strong land of love

Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme

That any man 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 real, and life is free,

Equality is in the air nosotros exhale.

(In that location'southward never been equality for me,

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

Say, who are you that mumbles in the night?

And who are yous 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 scarlet man driven from the land,

I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—

And finding simply the same old stupid plan

Of dog consume dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young human, total of strength and hope,

Tangled in that ancient endless chain

Of profit, power, proceeds, of grab the state!

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

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

Of owning everything for one's ain greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.

I am the worker sold to the automobile.

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

I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—

Hungry yet today despite the dream.

Beaten all the same today—O, Pioneers!

I am the man who never got ahead,

The poorest worker bartered through the years.

All the same I'grand the one who dreamt our bones dream

In the Old World while withal a serf of kings,

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

That even withal its mighty daring sings

In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned

That'southward made America the land it has get.

O, I'thou the homo who sailed those early seas

In search of what I meant to be my home—

For I'yard the 1 who left dark Ireland's shore,

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

And torn from Blackness Africa's strand I came

To build a "homeland of the gratuitous."

The gratuitous?

Who said the gratis? Non me?

Surely non 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 nosotros've hung,

The millions who have nothing for our pay—

Except the dream that'due south almost dead today.

O, let America be America over again—

The land that never has been withal—

And nevertheless must be—the land where every man is complimentary.

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

ME—

Who made America,

Whose sweat and claret, whose religion and hurting,

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

Must bring dorsum our mighty dream again.

Certain, call me whatever ugly name you choose—

The steel of freedom does not stain.

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

We must take dorsum our land again,

America!

O, yes, I say information technology plain,

America never was America to me,

And yet I swear this oath—

America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster decease,

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 apparently—

All, all the stretch of these great green states—

And make America again!

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

This whole verse form is a crying out, a passionate plea for America to re-plant the Dream. It is a kind of personal hymn, a lyrical spoken language, to freedom and equality. To enable that plea to be heard and felt, the speaker has to accept the reader through some dark times, through history, to explain simply why that Dream needs to live again.

Lines 1 - 4

Alternate rhyme, repetition and alliteration are all at play in this the first stanza, almost a song lyric. Information technology'southward a direct call for the onetime America to exist brought back to life again, to exist revived.

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

Line v

Almost as an aside, just highly significant, the single 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 2nd lyrical quatrain, with like rhyme pattern, places stronger emphasis on the dream, the original vision people had for the USA, one of love and equality. There would be no feudal system in place, no dictatorships - anybody would be equal.

Notation the contrast of the linguistic communication used here. In that location is the dream and love of those who would be equal, against those who would connive, scheme and beat out.

Line 10

Some other line in parentheses, as if the speaker is quietly reasserting his inner phonation - 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 - xiv

The tertiary quatrain, with alternating rhyme for familiarity, highlights the outer ethics - the dressing upward of Liberty merely for show, which is phoney patriotism. The capital Fifty reinforces the idea that this could exist the Statue of Liberty, the famous icon, based on a goddess, who holds the Proclamation of Independence in 1 hand and the torch in the other. Cleaved chains prevarication at her feet.

The plea continues, to make the dream possible, to make it manifest in opportunity and equality, for all. The proposition that equality could exist in the air people exhale, 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 over again repeats that, for the speaker personally, equality has been out of attain, mayhap just has never existed. Same goes for liberty. (Homeland of the gratis - could be based on the Star-Spangled Imprint lyrics 'land of the free.')

Further Analysis

Lines 17 - xviii

In italics for special reasons, these lines, two questions, correspond a turning indicate in the verse form; they are a dissimilar aspect of the speaker's identity. These two questions look back, questioning the speaker'due south negativity (in parentheses) and also look forwards.

The metaphor of the veil has biblical connections (in Corinthians) alluding to a darkening of reality, of non being able to encounter the truth.

Lines xix - 24

The first of the sextets, vi lines which express however another aspect of the speaker, who now speaks as and for, ane of the oppressed, in the outset person, I am. Nevertheless, 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 subject to the roughshod competition and the hierarchical systems imposed upon them.

Lines 25 - 30

The second sextet focuses on the beau, any swain no affair, caught up in the industrial anarchy of profit for profit's sake, where greed is skilful and power is the ultimate goal. The ugly, unacceptable face of capitalism encourages simply selfishness at any expense.

Lines 31 - 38

Once again, use of the repeated phrase I am brings home the message loud and clear in this octet: the system 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 means only hunger and poverty.

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

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 existence truly gratuitous 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, freedom and the pursuit of happiness (Thomas Jefferson).

More Line Past Line Analysis

Line 51

A single line, another stiff question. The previous twelve lines (the previous 50 lines) all led to this astute indicate. A simple yet searching ask.

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 arise. Simply exactly who are the gratuitous?

There are millions with picayune or cipher. When labor is withdrawn and legitimate protest arranged, the authorities counteract with the bullet. Protest songs and banners and hope count for little - all that's left is a barely breathing dream.

Lines 62 - seventy

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 heart, this time more personal - ME - even so taking in many dissimilar types of people.

In these nine lines the reader truly gets to know the speaker's intention and demand. Freedom for all. Information technology's almost a call to rise up and accept 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 (notation the simile - like leeches) need to start thinking over again nigh buying and rights to property.

Lines 76 - 79

A brusque quatrain, a kind of summing up of the speaker's whole take on the American Dream. A direct declaration - the Dream will manifest at some time. It 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 promise that the cherished platonic - America - tin can be made good once again.

Literary Devices in Let America Be America Again

Let America Exist America Over again is an 86 line poem dissever into 17 stanzas, 3 of which are single lines, two of which are couplets. In addition, there are iv quatrains, ii sextets, i octet, a twelve liner, ten liner, 9 liner, quintet, and a 7 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 curt lines turning up in mid-stanza.

Let's accept 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 in that location are challenging ones. In this verse form the rhyming blueprint starts in a conventional manner merely gradually becomes more than complex.

For example, accept a look at the kickoff vi stanzas:

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

This is relatively easy to follow. There is an alternating pattern in the first 3 quatrains, with the strong full vowel rhyme e dominant:

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

The full stop rhymes exit the reader in no uncertainty about i of the principal themes of this poem - liberty and me. A strong pairing ensures a memorable bond.

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

• All the same farther downwardly the line so to speak, there are still loose echoes of the familiar alternate design established at the beginning of the verse form.

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

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

Slant rhyme tends to claiming the reader because it is almost to full 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 piddling flake 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 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 important role in this verse form and occurs throughout. When words and phrases are repeated this has a similar effect to chanting, reinforcing meaning and giving the experience of power and accumulation of energy.

From the first stanza - Permit America/Allow it exist/Let it exist - 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 spoken language, where ideas and images are built up once again and again.

Ingemination

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

In the first four stanzas:

pioneer on the plain/home where he himself/dream the dreamers dreamed/land exist 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 directly into the side by side line.

For instance:

Let it be the pioneer on the patently

Seeking a home where he himself is freeast.

and 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, power, gain, of grab the land!

Personification

That even still its mighty daring sing

in every brick and stone, in every furrow turned

Sources

world wide web.poets.org

Norton Anthology,Norton, 2005

https://uwc.utexas.edu

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

© 2022 Andrew Spacey

getchellhatimon.blogspot.com

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

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