ipl-logo

Poem Analysis: To America By James Weldon Johnson

502 Words3 Pages

The poem titled “To America” by James Weldon Johnson is about a man that is asking if people of color will ever be accepted as who they are or if they will just be seen as a tool that people can use to get a higher step up in life. This person is truly wondering and questioning if racism will come to an end or if like he says “sinking ‘neath the load we bear?” (line 2) They just want to know if they will ever be accepted. This poem is about racism and how people of color have been treated in the past and how they will be treated in the future. This poem is really questioning the ability of Americans to accept everybody and to treat them as just another person because at this time in the history of America it is very hard for people of color to fit in and to just do things that everybody else could do. The person in this poem feels like personally they were not treated like an actual person but instead they were just treated like an object that people could use and treat terribly. This poem feels like it could be a call to action for all Americans and calling them out for what they have done in the …show more content…

It looks like America in 2018 is starting to get back to the time of which this poem was written and people need to and have started to call people out for being racist and treating people like they are less than you. If we have another Harlem Renaissance like time period that didn’t necessarily have to take place just in one city or part of a city then America could go back to everybody being friendly to one another and they wouldn’t feel like they are chained down and enslaved like it says in the poem “Or tightening chains about your feet?” (line 8). This means that the people of this time were were not happy with what was happening and the people of the present are not happy with what is going on

Show More
Related
503 Words | 3 Pages

America is a land of immigrants. People come from all parts of the world to experience the American dream. These two pieces of literature are focused on Japanese Americans and Mexican Americans. In the Poem which resembles a letter, In Response to Executive Order 9066 by Dwight Okita. The author is writing about a fourteen year old Japanese girl.

Read More
121 Words | 1 Pages

James Weldon Johnson expresses thoroughly thought out the sonnet loose the despair and have hope by using various dark and light imagery. In the introduction, the poet signifies the heart as a strong and brave no matter how much pain it goes through, that even through darkness, light will shine, “Thy coming morrow will be clear and bright; ‘Tis darkest when the night is furthest worn.” It expresses at the end to prohibit the obstacle from interfering, the superior will always rise, “Tho’ thick the battle and tho’ fierce the fight, There is a power making fro the right.” In conclusion, there will never be darkness if we never knew light, nor would we know light if we never experienced

Read More
470 Words | 2 Pages

The poem "To America" by James Weldon Johnson, the letter from Nurse Cornelia Hancock to her mother, and President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address all address different aspects of American history and society, and the authors form opinions and make arguments and claims about America in their respective texts. In "To America," Johnson addresses the oppression faced by African Americans in America and raises questions about the country's commitment to justice and equality. He writes, "Have you kept faith? / Have all your sons paid back the toil / Which gave you mastery of the soil? " These questions suggest that America has not fully lived up to its promises of freedom and equality for all its citizens, and that African Americans have been oppressed and exploited throughout its history.

Read More
520 Words | 3 Pages

The person in this poem expressed his sadness coming north by using folk art with black speech and compared the south with the north. These poems expressed racial pride and folk

Read More
1271 Words | 6 Pages

In the poem, Johnson’s use of inclusive words like “we”, “our” and “us”, fused with anaphoras in each stanza, allow him to address black Americans in the north and south. Johnson uses phrases like “Let us”, “Let our”, and“We have come”, “Keep us”, and “Lest our” to unify black America and build community and culture shattered by American racism and prejudice. Without a strong foundation, how could black America improve from its “Bitter”, “Stony”, “dark”, “weary”, and “gloomy” past? Johnson’s inclusive word choice forces a shared experience among black Americans, making the issues at hand a national issue and not exclusively a southern one; hence Black Americans had to work together to reach “the white gleam” of “victory”. Johnson’s appeals to black America are further extended in his pleas for strengthening faith and progress for black Americans as well;

Read More
1160 Words | 5 Pages

Overall, what I took away from the poem is that we as a country need to come together and try to change the system so everyone is able to feel safe in our country. It’s so important for other people to begin to see and understand the constant struggles that minorities go through because since it doesn’t relate to the majority of people they won’t ever even give it a second thought. However, by having poems like The Joy of Motherhood FreeQuency is able to touch a large base of people with her personal experience being black in America, and I believe many other African-Americans can

Read More
573 Words | 3 Pages

This poem showed that anyone can be somebody no matter what background they came from or situation they're in. He then proceeded to say that people need

Read More
301 Words | 2 Pages

This part of the poem was interesting to me because I figured that it refers back to slavery because back in slavery blacks where unknown at this time. But now they

Read More
343 Words | 2 Pages

When it comes to Whitfield’s poetry, his tone stands out as a key factor of his writing style. Most of the writing about slavery from black authors in the 1800s features ugly themes and retelling of experiences, but Whitfield excels at bringing his cynical attitude to the surface of his poetry. He also includes redeeming moments that instill hopefulness. His poem America exemplifies his direct tone of writing. He wastes no time to set the tone in his opening passage “America, it is to thee,| Thou boasted land of liberty,

Read More
973 Words | 4 Pages

Isaac Newton was known to be a great English scientist and mathematician. With his involvement in the science and mathematics field he was able to help us on future problems. with his new ideas we were able to improve in knowledge. Isaac Newton was born on December 25, 1642 in Woolsthorpe England and died on March 20, 1727 in Kensington, England. He was born a premature infant so small and sickly that no one thought he would survive(Isaac Newton).

Read More
590 Words | 3 Pages

This quote explains that the author is showing the reader that these people are not true Americans, because they treat this man differently because of his race. Another example in the poem is, "They'll see how beautiful I am and be ashamed, I too sing America." (Hughes 16-18) The author is showing the reader that no matter what color or religion someone may be, they still are considered to be an

Read More
921 Words | 4 Pages

Bruce Dawe highlights the damaging nature of consumerism and how it has led to the loss of Australian identity in his poems ‘Enter Without So Much As Knocking’ and ‘Americanized’. The two poems were written around the 1950-the 1960s when these societal changes were becoming prevalent. The dark satire comedy "Enter Without So Much As Knocking" is about a regular man who lives in the suburbs in the 1950s. The persona ages over the course of the stanzas and gradually begins to engage in the endless cycle of consumerism. On the other hand, the poem "Americanized," combines a cultural imperialist theme with the comparison of a domineering mother and her child who represent America and Australia.

Read More
715 Words | 3 Pages

This poem teaches readers that all humans have strength within them that can help to overcome any obstacles. “Out of the huts of history 's shame…/ I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide…/ Into a daybreak that 's wondrously clear…/I rise…” (29-43) generate a glorious ending and reflection of being the hope and the dream of slaves as reflected in the freedom and opportunity of the present day. The message drives a point that no matter what, the protagonist will be triumphant.

Read More
997 Words | 4 Pages

By stressing that he is equal in society and it is something that people will start to realize is reinforced in the last stanza. The last stanza “I, too, am America,”(18) where the word ‘sing’ from the first stanza is changed to ‘am.’ This is a powerful way to close the poem, reinforces the greater notion that not only is he a voice in society, but he is the very essence that is part of

Read More
1089 Words | 5 Pages

The second speaker also reshapes the first two lines of the entire poem into a plea to the majority. Beforehand, the first speaker uses those lines as a call for the old American spirit to be revived: “Let America be America again / Let it be the dream it used to be” (1-2). Both speakers change the meaning of the lines to express their thoughts on America. As a result, the poem expresses the desire for everyone to be treated equally in the land of freedom. The readers can relate to the speaker because they wish that everyone has equal rights in the country that proclaims itself to be the symbol of freedom.

Read More

More about Poem Analysis: To America By James Weldon Johnson

Related Topics

Open Document