Let Usa Be America Again Literary Devices

Makayla Long
Professor Van Epps
ENGL 1102
13 February 2023

How Poetry affected America during the Harlem Renaissance
Langston Hughes wrote the poem “Let America Be America Again” (1935) during the Harlem Renaissance period. Hughes used this poem to reveal his feelings towards the inequality in America. He used literary devices such as metaphors and repetition to show more about his theme of freedom and equality. Using these metaphors and repetition, Hughes gets his theme and feelings across in a very descriptive way. The speaker in the poem says, “Tangled in that ancient endless chain/of profit, power, gain of grab the land!” (lines 26-27). Hughes used a metaphor in these lines to describe how living in America was like an endless cycle and that he felt trapped and he wanted to feel equal to everyone else. The speaker uses this repetitive phrase, “Let America be America again,” (line 1). They use it again later on in the poem,

“Let America be America again” starts off with a usual rhyme scheme, with every other line rhyming. Lines seven and nine rhyme. Hughes’ structure change can be seen here, “Let it be that great strong land of love,” (line 7). The typical ABAB rhyme scheme is seen here with the words “love” and above”. “That any man be crushed by one above,” (line 9). Later on in the poem, the reader can see that the structure of the poem drastically changes. There is not a consistent rhyme scheme and the speaker begins asking rhetorical questions. An example of these rhetorical questions being asked by the speaker can be seen here, “Who said the free? Not me?” (line 64). This structure and tone change can give the reader a better picture of how Hughes felt about the inequality in America. He started out the poem with a more positive and hopeful tone from the speaker, but later changes it to a more resentful tone. The speaker is resentful and angry because of the unnoticed need for change in