“I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek.” In the poem “Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes, the reader here’s from two different speakers, and how they both seperately want America to change. One of the speakers wants America to go back to what it was before, while the other responds in small comments, building up to say the quote you read at the beginning. In the poem “Let America Be America Again” the author has two separate speakers with contradicting thoughts, the author relates to problems that were happening in the real world, and how the author’s rhyme scheme is a vital component to how this poem reads.
In the poem, “ Let America be America again”, Langston Hughes asserts that America does not live up to what it actually should be. Hughes’ tone seems to be angry and [exasperated]. He implicates the perspective of one particular group, but many people. The poem represents that many people come here with high hopes and big dreams but they are let down. He states that [prosperity] is one of the reasons that there is an economic inconsistency where the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer.
Hughes uses the inequality that still stands in the “free” America to voice that everyone should be equal. Hughes uses various allusions to portray the didactic meaning of the poem that the statements of a free America for everyone, is far from the truth. Making allusions to certain instances, in African American history provided a way for Hughes’ audience to understand his underlying thought. Throughout the formation of the America today, African Americans have been discriminated starting from their beginning as slaves. Hughes describes African Americans during this time period as, “the Negro(s) bearing slavery’s scars.
Langston Hughes uses symbolism in “Let America Be America Again” to impart the lack of freedom and inequality that restricts all people who are socially and economically disadvantaged of their unalienable rights. Hughes’ poem, “Let America be America Again” utilizes symbolism to illustrate the lack of freedom amidst people, regardless of the color of their skin or the amount of wealth they possess. The lines, “ I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars/ I am the red man driven from the land,” references how African Americans had gone through segregation and they were mercilessly beaten when they were considered African slaves, though there were in the land of the free, scars that would never vanish throughout the history of the U.S. In the same
In ‘Let America be America Again’ published in 1936, he calls for America to be known for the people that helped to create what it is today, rather than to be known for those that benefit from the people that made America what it is. The first three stanzas, read as though it is a speech that the speaker is reading aloud. This is shown through the minimal use of enjambment in the first stanza and the repetition of the verb ‘let’ at the beginning of most lines in the first stanza, for example, ‘Let it be the dream it used to be| Let it be the pioneer on the plain.’ However, between these first three stanza’s, Hughes writes the speakers inner thoughts in parentheses saying, ‘America never was America to me’ and ‘It never was America to me’, splitting the poem into two sections of the speaker’s mind. He speaks of America as ideals in his speech, to mirror the intrigue of the American Dream that was sold to many, saying ‘opportunity is real and life is free, ‘Equality is in the air we breathe.’
“O let my land be land where liberty is crowned with no false patriotic wreath.” written by Langston Hughes [Let America be America Again] The two poems have the idea of the American dream, and opportunities. The to two poems talk about America changing, also talk about people's jobs.
Hughes starts off his poem by talking about the discrimination he faced at the time. Later in the poem, he talks about how in the future, he will be the one sitting at the table. Hughes announces, “Nobody’ll dare/ say to me, / ‘Eat in the kitchen,’/ then” (Hughes). He finishes the poem by affirming, “I, too, am America” (Hughes). Langston Hughes shifts from talking about the bad past, to speaking about the good things coming in the future.
In “Let America Be Great Again”, Langston Hughes sets a tone of anger, sarcasm, and hope. He expresses that America is not what it seems to be to everyone; especially those that are economically and socially challenged or deprived. Hughes began the poem by saying, “Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain.” He also says that America was never America to him.
The poems, “Let America be American Again” by Langston Hughes, “So Mexicans are taking Jobs from Americans” by Jimmy Santiago Baca, and “Queer Theory: According to My Grandmother” by Richard Blanco discuss just a few of these issues. All three of these poems point out the “flaws” in society today and in the past. The poem “Let America be American Again” by Langston Hughes is about freedom and equality within the United States.
America Langston Hughes’ “Let America Be America Again” is the poem that I have chosen to write about. Out of the poems I read it is the one that struck a chord with me on a very deep level. This poem speaks about how to many America is synonymous with freedom, often times forgetting that for some America was never that. I am proud to be an American, but,I often times forget how many people's lives, freedom, and rights were trampled in the making of this great nation.
America is well known as the land of the free and the home opportunity. Although it is said everyone is equal in every way, that has not always been the case. Langston Hughes is a poet who tried to emphasize the idea of equality among all human beings. Hughes underlined the basis of the American Dream with what is and what should be in the societal era he lived in. In hindsight he believed his poems helped others realize the injustices that all minorities had to face during this era.
The tone of Langston Hughes’ poem “I, Too, Sing America” is determined and talks about how “tomorrow” he will do what he pleases instead of doing what his master
In the poem "Let America Be America Again," Langston Hughes paints a vivid word picture of a depressed America in the 1930's. In this poetic expression, a speaker is allowed to say what he wants for America to be America, what is that we don't have that high gas prices. I think that I would change, that people who aren't working should not get any money from the state, freedom is a privilege instead of the state giving it for free. My brother is epileptic and he works so how come everybody in the world wants something for free. I learned over two years that everything is the same in Germany as in America sure we speak different we have different opinions about something, but we are still the person who we want to be is our decision about how we want to live our lives.
The speaker constantly talks in the future tense. He will say things like, “Tomorrow, I’ll be at the table,” (Hughes 7-8), which communicates that he understands that one day he will be able to sit and enjoy a meal amongst others without being looked down upon as a lower figure of society. Despite being sent away so many times in his life, the speaker never staggers on believing he belongs with the others. Given the time period, this is a high achievement. For many centuries, it was believed African Americans were a lower part of society, and even those individuals believed it, but Hughes ensured his speaker was more strong-willed than that.
Langston Hughes was a Black poet who wrote poems during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s. One of his poems, “Theme for English B”, was written to compare a young, black man to his older, white teacher and peers during the 1930s. In this poem, Hughes uses punctuation, words, and phrases to help the reader understand how the narrator struggled with his identity during segregation in America. In comparison, I wrote my poem, “Theme for English 102”, to analyze my identity in America today.
