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I Hear America Again Poetry Analysis

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A stimulating and rousing ideal, the American Dream is a symbol of America’s promise and the possibilities within her borders. Compelling far-off foreigners to cross the dark and blue oceans decades ago, the American Dream has become an enthralling controversy for films, plays and books to exhibit and question. A famous example of the exploration of the American Dream lies in two beautifully written poems by two critically acclaimed poets, Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman. Hughes’ “Let America be America Again” and Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing” are fascinating poems by legendary poets. However, the main points behind the pieces could not be more contrasting towards one another, viewing the American Dream from vastly different roles in society. In “ Let America be America Again”, …show more content…

Langston Hughes also places in historical examples of this structure in society, by adding in characters such as the Negro (slaves) which bear the scars of slavery (L20), and “the red man” (Native Americans) chased off the land by the the “promise” America holds (L21). Also seen, especially in Lines 27 to 30, Hughes tells of the corruption and the fraud that the American Dream inspires and how it drives people to take and steal for one’s own thirsty greed. “America never was America to me” Hughes quotes (L5 & 10), symbolizing that he was never on the beneficial side of the American Dream and never got the chance to taste the lavish and fair lifestyle that was promised and that very few have ever actually known or ever will

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