Let America Be America Again Poem Analysis

Langston Hughes’ poetry frequently cites the “American Dream” from the perspective of those who were disenfranchised in American, such as the Native Americans, African Americans, poor farmers, and oppressed immigrants. The American Dream was defined by James Truslow Adams as, “life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement” (Langston Hughes). Hughes’ poetry portrays the glories of equality, liberty, and the “American Dream” as the disenfranchised were trapped beneath oppression, poverty, and prejudice. Whose dreams are smothered and buried in a life characterized by the anguish of survival.

Langston Hughes was a poet with many artistic abilities. His writing and drawings established the lifestyles of many African Americans during this time. In a poem called “I, Too” Hughes express his feelings as an African American, a brother, and someone who deserves to fit in society. He states “I, too sing America” (1039). Hughes saw himself as an individual who has a voice in America even though his skin is a little darker. In a poem called “Democracy” Hughes states: “I have as much right as the other fellow has to stand on my own two feet and own the land” (1043). Hughes was speaking for every African American whom were still dealing with segregation, racism, and freedom.

America is known to be the country of liberty. The definition of Liberty is simply the reason America was created; it is a place where everyone is treated equal with hopes of achieving their American dream. As a result, many people dream of coming to live in the wonderful country known for its freedom. However, America does not seem to hold that value as it used to. In the poem “Let America Be America Again”, the poet Langston Hughes expresses his disappointment with the country. The poem was written in 1935 where discrimination and inequality still exist. In the poem “Let America Be America Again”, the poet Langston Hughes uses repetition and alliteration in order to show desirement for a better country and disappointment of the country America came to be, and also imagery in order to exemplify the struggles of those who came to live in country they thought was dream.

In Langston Hughes poem “Let America be America Again” he talks about how America should return to the way that it was perceived to be in the dreams before America was truly America. Throughout the poem he uses various methods to evoke the patriotic images and dreams that he feels America should and will eventually be. Hughes states that America is supposed to be a place of equality for everyone including both white and colored people. During this period in time though there was not equality for everyone. Hughes talks about an America where both whites and colored people will have equality in all aspects socially, politically, and economically. What Hughes is saying is that both whites and colored

America is arguably the most robust country and yet it also one of many countries where we are not all free. In the poem "Let America Be America Again" Langston Hughes shows his opinion of America and declared that America has never been great and never will be if there is varied equality among the ethnics and their social classes. Learned Hand announced “That spirit of an American which has never been, and may never be; nay, which never will be except as the conscience and courage of Americas create it”, her he feels that America is only as good as the common people in it, therefore, Americas future lies in our hands and the way we use it. Both Langston Hughes and Learned Hand presumed that America has never been great yet, Hand is unsure on whether America has the potential to change their ways but, Langston Hughes let out his emotions exclaiming” America never was America to me, and yet I swear this oath America will be! These two Americans have shown how they feel and believe that we can only be a magnificent country if we believe

Throughout this poem Hughes has placed many symbols in the readers mind to bring the image of the African American people to thought. He reminds African American readers of their origin and what they have been through by using the

Life, liberty, freedom, equality, opportunity, and so many other words have been used to describe the United States of America. Every American child grows up with the words “the land of the free” pounded into their heads, and every morning schools declare America as a place of “liberty and justice for all.” Such inflated rhetoric presents America with large shoes to fill. Thus, America’s shortcomings should not be surprising. Langston Hughes and Upton Sinclair were two 20th Century writers, who saw past this idealistic talk and saw the jungle that the United States really was. Langston Hughes wrote in his poem “Let America be America Again”, “Let America be America again. –Let it be the dream it used to be. –Let it be the pioneer on the plain –Seeking a home where himself is free. –(America was never America to me) (1).” He highlights not only the experience of African Americans during the 1930s, but identifies with other oppressed groups including immigrants writing, “I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—And finding only the same old stupid plan –Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.” Likewise, Upton Sinclair conveyed his repulsion to immigrant oppression during the Industrial Revolution in his book The Jungle, emphasizing the gullibility behind trusting the grandiloquence of the American dream.

The poem “Let America Be America Again,” by Langston Hughes, brings up two sides to the discussion about what America means to people. It discusses the fact that to some people, America is an amazing land, where people are free from oppression and have rights. The poem, however, does not neglect the fact that there are people who have never experienced those freedoms and rights, nor does it neglect the fact that the people who have not experienced those rights also live in America. The issue about people living in America but never experiencing rights that are thought to be American was very prominent at the time that Hughes wrote the poem. Now the discussion is not “what it means to live in America” but “what it means to love America.” The issue contemplates whether someone can love America and still notice its flaws; or, if in order to love America one must neglect its ugly truths and only focus on the great accomplishments. One of the main causes for this discussion derive from the fact that right-winged people claim that Obama does not love America. However, they fail to see that in order to love something you must also notice its flaws and fix them.

     In the poem "Let America Be America Again," Langston Hughes paints a vivid word picture of a depressed America in the 1930's. To many living in America, the idealism presented as the American Dream had escaped their grasp. In this poetic expression, a speaker is allowed to voice the unsung Americans' concern of how America was intended to be, had become to them, and could aspire to be again.

Written in the first half of the 20th century, “Let America Be America” is a poem that documents and responds to the oppressed state of the United States, in both the past and present. The poem is a plea for a return to the original principles of freedom that our country has seemingly forgotten. Additionally, the speaker sees America as the broken home to oppressed people who have lost sight of the ultimate goal of freedom and happiness. Although America is often perceived as the “land of the free,” Langston Hughes’s poem contradicts this ideology by not only painting a vivid picture of oppression in America but also by providing a desperate hope for the future.

In the fight for equality, people of color often feel isolated and separated from those whose privilege reinforces their oppression. However, there are and always have been white people who see the inequalities that are practiced in society and speak out against them in hopes of reaching equality for all. Langston Hughes used his voice in poetry to express his experience as a black man in the United States during the Civil Rights Movement, and his is a household name. There is no doubt that his words have power. The reader expects to feel his experience and gain empathy and understanding through his poetry. In his poem, “Let America Be America Again,” Hughes presents his experience of American life in a powerful contrast to the experience

Langston Hughes’s “Let America Be America Again” is a poem that could be endlessly applied to where America stands today. This poem illustrates the morals, ideas, and visions set forth by those who found this country and how America has begun straying from those principles. The poem expresses that America is made up of all walks of people and that no man should be crushed by those above him, but rather be given the same opportunity as those above him. Hughes desire to make America great again can be shared in some way or another by most Americans making this poem everlasting. “Let America Be America Again” has the personalization, the language, the connection shared by every American, and the rhyme to allow readers of every race, gender, or religious belief to be brought together as not only people but as Americans.

In “Let America be America Again,” Hughes reflects on the current discrepancy between the promises of justice and equality in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence and the current situation that Hughes faces. Anaphorically using the phrase “I am,” Hughes mentions the different types of people, including poor whites, Native Americans, and immigrants, that share the same struggle that African Americans face regarding the pursuit of equality and the American Dream. Emphasizing his ideal America with a caesura pause, Hughes writes, “and yet must be--the land where every man is free.” This line encapsulates Hughe’s desire for a America that includes African Americans and other minorities and finally upholding the nation’s promise that all Americans were created equal. Hughes also realizes that his ideal America will still require

America, the shining city on a hill, the land of freedom, opportunity, and equality for all – a notion embraced by so many as the truth. The American Dream outlined by the forefathers of this land has become an illusion, a mirage that disappears just as ostracized, downtrodden groups of people begin to come within its reach. While Walt Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing,” begins to peel at the veneer of the seemingly all-inclusive American Dream, Sylvia Plath and Langston Hughes fully expose the harsh realities of American life for those who have been woken by a reality devoid of this paradisiacal dream. Through these selections, the illusion that is known to all as the American Dream is shattered, along with any hope for true equality and freedom for women and people of color in the land of the free.

It is a wish, a hope that someday prosperity will be secured. In “Let America Be America Again” the speaker speaks of the equality, the dream, and the freedom that America boasts about, but is rarely seen. The poem begins with “Let America be America again./ Let it be the dream it used to be” (Hughes 1-2). In these lines the speaker focuses on the idea that America only exists in dreams, the American Dream; but it is only a figment of the over-ingenious imagination. Hughes’ family has potential to have the American Dream, but his father’s unwillingness to stand by the racist nature takes precedence. The following line “Let it be the pioneer on the plain/ Seeking a home where he himself is free” is stating that America should go back to being “the dream dreamers dreamed,” not the nightmare dreamers awake in a sweat from (Hughes 3-4, 6-7). It should be like it was for the pioneers who sought out land where they could be free, not like the people today who strive for freedoms but inevitably fail. The speaker believes that “There’s never been equality for me,/ Nor freedom in this ‘homeland of the free’” (Hughes 16-17). This “homeland of the free” should embody liberty through equality and opportunity, not through a “false patriotic wreath” (Hughes 13). America should be “the land where every man is free” (Hughes 68-69). The speaker represents him or herself as the “poor white,” “the negro bearing slavery’s scar,” “the young man full