Who Is Speaking in the Parentheses in Hughes Let America Be America Again

Andrew has a keen involvement in all aspects of poetry and writes extensively on the bailiwick. His poems are published online and in print.

Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes And A Summary of "Let America Be America Over again"

"Let America Be America Again" focuses on the idea of the American dream and how, for many, attaining liberty, equality, and happiness, which the dream encapsulates, is nigh on impossible.

The speaker in the poem outlines the reasons why this ideal America has gone, or never was, but could even so exist.

For the poor, the oppressed and the downtrodden, the reality of day to twenty-four hours existence makes the dream a cruel illusion. The poem explores the darker areas of life, the history of exploitation for case, and outlines the unique struggles of the poor who make up America, both blackness and white.

Whilst pessimistic and difficult hitting, the verse form does have an optimistic ending and lights the way forward with hope.

Langston Hughes was going through a hard period in his life when he wrote this poem. He knew he wanted to earn a living through writing, only couldn't sustain his efforts, despite poetry book publication, near notably The Weary Blues.

It was on a train journey through Depression-struck America in 1935 that inspired him to pen this classic plea for a resurgence of the true American spirit.

Publication followed in the Esquire mag and Hughes went on to become a noted if controversial figure in the globe of black literature, following his earlier work in the so-called Harlem Renaissance, an upbeat blackness artistic movement peaking in the 1920s.

"Allow America Be America Again" reflects the many influences in Hughes'south verse - from the expansive work of Whitman to street language, from jazz rhythm to the steady iambic lines of before black poets such as Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Let America Exist America Again

Let America be America again.

Let it be the dream it used to be.

Allow it be the pioneer on the plain

Seeking a home where he himself is free.

Gyre to Continue

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(America never was America to me.)

Let America exist the dream the dreamers dreamed—

Let it be that great strong land of love

Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme

That any human be crushed past one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, allow my state exist a land where Liberty

Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,

But opportunity is existent, and life is gratis,

Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There'southward never been equality for me,

Nor freedom in this "homeland of the costless.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?

And who are y'all that draws your veil across the stars?

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—

And finding only the same old stupid plan

Of domestic dog eat dog, of mighty shell the weak.

I am the fellow, full of force and hope,

Tangled in that aboriginal endless concatenation

Of profit, ability, gain, of grab the land!

Of grab the gilt! Of grab the ways of satisfying demand!

Of work the men! Of take the pay!

Of owning everything for 1's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondservant to the soil.

I am the worker sold to the motorcar.

I am the Negro, servant to y'all all.

I am the people, humble, hungry, hateful—

Hungry yet today despite the dream.

Beaten however today—O, Pioneers!

I am the human who never got ahead,

The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our bones dream

In the Former Globe while still a serf of kings,

Who dreamt a dream and then strong, so brave, so true,

That even even so its mighty daring sings

In every brick and rock, in every furrow turned

That'due south made America the land it has go.

O, I'yard the homo who sailed those early seas

In search of what I meant to be my habitation—

For I'm the one who left nighttime Republic of ireland's shore,

And Poland'southward plain, and England's grassy lea,

And torn from Black Africa's strand I came

To build a "homeland of the gratis."

The free?

Who said the costless? Non me?

Surely not me? The millions on relief today?

The millions shot downwards when nosotros strike?

The millions who have nothing for our pay?

For all the dreams we've dreamed

And all the songs we've sung

And all the hopes we've held

And all the flags we've hung,

The millions who have cipher for our pay—

Except the dream that'due south almost expressionless today.

O, let America be America once more—

The land that never has been yet—

And yet must be—the land where every man is gratuitous.

The land that's mine—the poor man'southward, Indian's, Negro'southward,

ME—

Who made America,

Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,

Whose manus at the foundry, whose turn in the rain,

Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Certain, call me any ugly proper noun you lot cull—

The steel of freedom does non stain.

From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,

We must take back our land again,

America!

O, yeah, I say it evidently,

America never was America to me,

And yet I swear this oath—

America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster decease,

The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,

We, the people, must redeem

The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.

The mountains and the endless plain—

All, all the stretch of these bully green states—

And make America again!

Line-By-Line Analysis of "Let America Be America Again"

This whole verse form is a crying out, a passionate plea for America to re-establish the Dream. It is a kind of personal hymn, a lyrical speech, to freedom and equality. To enable that plea to be heard and felt, the speaker has to accept the reader through some dark times, through history, to explain merely why that Dream needs to live once again.

Lines 1 - four

Alternate rhyme, repetition and alliteration are all at play in this the first stanza, almost a song lyric. It's a direct telephone call for the old America to be brought back to life again, to be revived.

Note the mention of the pioneer, those outset seekers of freedom who with tremendous will and effort established themselves a habitation, against all the odds.

Line 5

Near as an aside, but highly significant, the unmarried line in parentheses reveals that, for the speaker, America as an ideal just hasn't happened. For him, this romantic notion of the American Dream never has been. Why is that?

Lines 6 - 9

The second lyrical quatrain, with similar rhyme pattern, places stronger emphasis on the dream, the original vision people had for the USA, i of love and equality. There would be no feudal organisation in place, no dictatorships - anybody would be equal.

Note the contrast of the language used here. There is the dream and love of those who would exist equal, against those who would connive, scheme and beat.

Line 10

Another line in parentheses, as if the speaker is quietly reasserting his inner voice - again making the point that this America hasn't existed for him, implying that he is far from the Dream. He is dubious to say the least.

Lines eleven - 14

The third quatrain, with alternating rhyme for familiarity, highlights the outer ideals - the dressing up of Liberty merely for show, which is phoney patriotism. The capital L reinforces the thought that this could be the Statue of Freedom, the famous icon, based on a goddess, who holds the Declaration of Independence in one mitt and the torch in the other. Broken bondage lie at her anxiety.

The plea continues, to make the dream possible, to make it manifest in opportunity and equality, for all. The suggestion that equality could be in the air people breathe, ways that equality should be a natural given, part of the fabric that keeps u.s. all alive, sharing the common air.

Lines 15 - sixteen

The rhyming couplet in parentheses one time again repeats that, for the speaker personally, equality has been out of reach, perhaps just has never existed. Aforementioned goes for liberty. (Homeland of the free - could be based on the Star-Spangled Banner lyrics 'country of the free.')

Further Analysis

Lines 17 - 18

In italics for special reasons, these lines, two questions, represent a turning indicate in the poem; they are a different aspect of the speaker'southward identity. These two questions look back, questioning the speaker'southward negativity (in parentheses) and also look frontwards.

The metaphor of the veil has biblical connections (in Corinthians) alluding to a darkening of reality, of not existence able to see the truth.

Lines 19 - 24

The first of the sextets, six lines which express even so another attribute of the speaker, who at present speaks every bit and for, one of the oppressed, in the first person, I am. However, this voice likewise expresses the commonage, articulating a mass sentiment.

And note that all types of person are included: white, black, native American, the immigrant. All are subject to the fell competition and the hierarchical systems imposed upon them.

Lines 25 - 30

The second sextet focuses on the immature man, any beau no thing, defenseless up in the industrial chaos of profit for profit'due south sake, where greed is skillful and power is the ultimate goal. The ugly, unacceptable face of capitalism encourages just selfishness at any expense.

Lines 31 - 38

Again, use of the repeated phrase I am brings dwelling the bulletin loud and clear in this octet: the system is cruellest to those who are poorest. From the farmer to the servant, from the land to the fine houses of the wealthy, for many the Dream means only hunger and poverty.

Workers go de-humanized, become mere numbers and are treated as if they are commodities or coin.

Lines 39 - l

The longest stanza in the verse form, 12 lines, concentrates on the history of those immigrants who dreamt of fundamental freedoms in the offset place. This is the cruel irony. Those fleeing poverty, war and oppression; those forced to leave their native lands, had this dream inside, a dream of being truly free in a new country.

They travelled to America in the hope of realizing this dream. People from One-time Europe, many from Africa, all set out for a new life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (Thomas Jefferson).

More Line Past Line Analysis

Line 51

A single line, some other potent question. The previous twelve lines (the previous 50 lines) all led to this acute point. A unproblematic yet searching inquire.

Lines 52 - 61

The next ten lines explore this notion of the free. But the speaker seems perplexed - where did this crazy question originate? It's as if the speaker doesn't know himself whatsoever longer, or the reasons why the question of the gratuitous should ascend. Just exactly who are the costless?

At that place are millions with fiddling or nothing. When labor is withdrawn and legitimate protestation arranged, the authorities counteract with the bullet. Protest songs and banners and promise count for petty - all that'southward left is a barely breathing dream.

Lines 62 - 70

The speaker takes a deep jiff and repeats the opening line, but with more than emotional input.....O, permit America be America again. This is a plea from the center, this time more personal - ME - yet taking in many dissimilar types of people.

In these nine lines the reader truly gets to know the speaker's intention and demand. Freedom for all. It's almost a call to rise upwards and take back what belongs to the many and not the few.

Lines 71 - 75

No matter the abuse, the pursuit of freedom is pure and stiff. Those who have exploited the poor and sucked out their lifeblood (annotation the simile - like leeches) need to outset thinking again about ownership and rights to property.

Lines 76 - 79

A brusk quatrain, a kind of summing up of the speaker'south whole take on the American Dream. A direct announcement - the Dream will manifest at some time. Information technology has to.

Lines eighty - 86

The final septet concludes that, out of the old rotten, criminal system, the people will renew and refresh and rebuild something wholesome and sustainable. At that place remains promise that the cherished ideal - America - can exist made expert over again.

Literary Devices in Let America Exist America Again

Let America Be America Again is an 86 line poem divide into 17 stanzas, 3 of which are single lines, 2 of which are couplets. In add-on, in that location are 4 quatrains, 2 sextets, ane octet, a twelve liner, ten liner, nine liner, quintet, and a seven liner.

The layout is quite unusual. On the page the poem looks more like an extended song lyric, with quatrains followed by single lines and very brusque lines turning up in mid-stanza.

Let's have a closer await at the literary devices:

Rhyme Scheme

Rhymes tend to bring familiarity and help reinforce meaning. In poetry, there are simple rhyme schemes and at that place are challenging ones. In this poem the rhyming pattern starts in a conventional fashion but gradually becomes more than complex.

For example, take a look at the first 6 stanzas:

• abab - (b) - cdcd - (b) - bebe - (bb)

This is relatively easy to follow. There is an alternate pattern in the first iii quatrains, with the strong full vowel rhyme due east dominant:

be/free/me/me/Liberty/free/me/free.

The full cease rhymes leave the reader in no incertitude nearly 1 of the main themes of this poem - freedom and me. A strong pairing ensures a memorable bond.

So, the first sixteen lines are straightforward enough. After this the rhyme scheme gradually loses its regular pattern and becomes stretched.

• Nevertheless further down the line and so to speak, at that place are still loose echoes of the familiar alternating pattern established at the beginning of the poem.

Each of the larger stanzas contains some course of full rhyme, or full and camber rhyme:

soil/all with machine/mean and become/free with lea/complimentary.

Slant rhyme tends to challenge the reader because it is near to full rhyme but isn't full rhyme to the ear, as in soil/all. It means things aren't clicking in full, they're a piffling chip out of harmony.

As the poem progresses, rhyme becomes more than intermittent and tends to condense in certain stanzas, every bit in stanza 13, pay/today and stanza fourteen, pain/rain/once more. The poet's aim with such concentrated rhyme is to brand the words stick in the reader's mind and memory.

Literary Device (2)

Anaphora

Repetition plays an of import function in this poem and occurs throughout. When words and phrases are repeated this has a similar outcome to chanting, reinforcing meaning and giving the feel of ability and aggregating of energy.

From the first stanza - Permit America/Let it be/Let it exist - to the last - The country, the plants, the mines, the rivers - there are repeats. Some critics have likened them to song lyrics, others to parts of a political speech, where ideas and images are built up again and again.

Alliteration

At that place are numerous examples of alliterative lines - when words with leading consonants are close together - which bring texture and interest to lines and a claiming to the reader.

In the first four stanzas:

pioneer on the plain/home where he himself/dream the dreamers dreamed/state be a country where Liberty/slavery's scars.

Enjambment

Enjambment, when a line continues without punctuation on into the next, keeping the flow of sense, occurs in several stanzas. Await out for the 'open' end lines which encourage the reader to non pause but go on straight into the next line.

For example:

Let it be the pioneer on the plain

Seeking a home where he himself is fredue east.

and over again:

We, the people, must redeem

The state, the mines, the plants, the rivers.

Metaphor

Tangled in that endless aboriginal concatenation

of profit, power, gain, of catch the land!

Personification

That fifty-fifty nonetheless its mighty daring sing

in every brick and stone, in every furrow turned

Sources

www.poets.org

Norton Anthology,Norton, 2005

https://uwc.utexas.edu

100 Essential Modern Poems, Ivan Dee, Joseph Parisi, 2005

© 2017 Andrew Spacey

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Source: https://owlcation.com/humanities/Analysis-of-Poem-Let-America-Be-America-Again-by-Langston-Hughes

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