Let America Be America Again Anaphora Analysis

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

Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes And A Summary of "Let America Be America Once more"

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

The speaker in the verse form outlines the reasons why this ideal America has gone, or never was, just could all the same be.

For the poor, the oppressed and the downtrodden, the reality of twenty-four hours to twenty-four hour period existence makes the dream a roughshod illusion. The verse form explores the darker areas of life, the history of exploitation for example, and outlines the unique struggles of the poor who brand upward America, both blackness and white.

Whilst pessimistic and difficult hitting, the poem does have an optimistic ending and lights the way forwards 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 volume publication, most notably The Weary Blues.

It was on a railroad train journeying 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 magazine and Hughes went on to get a noted if controversial figure in the globe of blackness literature, following his earlier work in the so-chosen Harlem Renaissance, an upbeat black artistic movement peaking in the 1920s.

"Let America Be America Over again" reflects the many influences in Hughes'southward verse - from the expansive work of Whitman to street language, from jazz rhythm to the steady iambic lines of earlier black poets such as Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Let America Exist America Once more

Let America be America over again.

Let it exist the dream it used to be.

Let it be the pioneer on the plainly

Seeking a home where he himself is free.

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(America never was America to me.)

Allow America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—

Permit it be that great strong land of beloved

Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme

That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a state where Liberty

Is crowned with no faux patriotic wreath,

But opportunity is real, and life is free,

Equality is in the air nosotros breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,

Nor liberty in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are y'all that mumbles in the nighttime?

And who are you 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 state,

I am the immigrant clutching the promise I seek—

And finding only the aforementioned old stupid plan

Of canis familiaris swallow domestic dog, of mighty vanquish the weak.

I am the immature human, full of strength and promise,

Tangled in that ancient endless concatenation

Of profit, power, proceeds, of grab the land!

Of grab the gilded! Of grab the means of satisfying need!

Of piece of work the men! Of take the pay!

Of owning everything for ane'due south own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.

I am the worker sold to the machine.

I am the Negro, retainer to you all.

I am the people, apprehensive, hungry, mean—

Hungry nonetheless today despite the dream.

Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!

I am the man who never got ahead,

The poorest worker bartered through the years.

However I'thou the 1 who dreamt our bones dream

In the Quondam Globe while notwithstanding a serf of kings,

Who dreamt a dream so strong, so dauntless, so true,

That fifty-fifty yet its mighty daring sings

In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned

That'due south fabricated America the state it has become.

O, I'chiliad the human being who sailed those early seas

In search of what I meant to be my dwelling—

For I'm the one who left dark Ireland'south shore,

And Poland's manifestly, and England's grassy lea,

And torn from Black Africa's strand I came

To build a "homeland of the free."

The gratis?

Who said the free? Not me?

Surely not me? The millions on relief today?

The millions shot downward when we strike?

The millions who accept 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 accept nothing for our pay—

Except the dream that'south almost dead today.

O, let America exist America over again—

The land that never has been yet—

And yet must exist—the land where every man is free.

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

ME—

Who made America,

Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,

Whose paw at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,

Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Certain, telephone call me any ugly proper noun you choose—

The steel of liberty does not stain.

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

Nosotros must accept back our land again,

America!

O, yes, I say it manifestly,

America never was America to me,

And yet I swear this adjuration—

America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,

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

We, the people, must redeem

The country, the mines, the plants, the rivers.

The mountains and the countless plain—

All, all the stretch of these not bad greenish states—

And make America over again!

Line-By-Line Assay of "Let America Be America Once again"

This whole poem 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 just why that Dream needs to live again.

Lines 1 - iv

Alternating rhyme, repetition and alliteration are all at play in this the first stanza, well-nigh a song lyric. Information technology'southward a direct call for the old America to be brought back to life over again, to be revived.

Note the mention of the pioneer, those beginning seekers of liberty who with tremendous will and effort established themselves a home, confronting all the odds.

Line 5

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

Lines half-dozen - 9

The second lyrical quatrain, with like rhyme blueprint, places stronger emphasis on the dream, the original vision people had for the United states of america, one of love and equality. There would be no feudal system in place, no dictatorships - everyone would exist equal.

Note the contrast of the linguistic communication used here. There is the dream and honey of those who would be equal, against those who would connive, scheme and beat out.

Line 10

Some other line in parentheses, every bit 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 11 - xiv

The third quatrain, with alternating rhyme for familiarity, highlights the outer ideals - the dressing up of Liberty merely for prove, which is phoney patriotism. The uppercase 50 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 manus and the torch in the other. Cleaved chains prevarication at her feet.

The plea continues, to make the dream possible, to get in manifest in opportunity and equality, for all. The suggestion that equality could be in the air people breathe, means that equality should be a natural given, part of the fabric that keeps united states of america all alive, sharing the common air.

Lines 15 - xvi

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

Further Assay

Lines 17 - xviii

In italics for special reasons, these lines, ii questions, stand for a turning point in the poem; they are a different aspect of the speaker's identity. These two questions look back, questioning the speaker's negativity (in parentheses) and also look forward.

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

Lines nineteen - 24

The starting time of the sextets, six lines which express all the same another aspect of the speaker, who now speaks as and for, one of the oppressed, in the offset person, I am. Yet, this voice also expresses the commonage, articulating a mass sentiment.

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

Lines 25 - xxx

The 2d sextet focuses on the beau, any young man no matter, caught up in the industrial chaos of turn a profit for profit's sake, where greed is good 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 domicile the message loud and clear in this octet: the system is cruellest to those who are poorest. From the farmer to the retainer, from the land to the fine houses of the wealthy, for many the Dream ways only hunger and poverty.

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

Lines 39 - 50

The longest stanza in the poem, 12 lines, concentrates on the history of those immigrants who dreamt of cardinal freedoms in the first 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 beingness truly free in a new state.

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

More Line By Line Analysis

Line 51

A single line, another potent question. The previous twelve lines (the previous 50 lines) all led to this astute point. A simple yet searching inquire.

Lines 52 - 61

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

There are millions with little or zippo. When labor is withdrawn and legitimate protest arranged, the government counteract with the bullet. Protest songs and banners and hope count for niggling - all that'southward left is a barely animate dream.

Lines 62 - 70

The speaker takes a deep jiff and repeats the opening line, simply with more emotional input.....O, allow America exist America again. This is a plea from the heart, this fourth dimension more personal - ME - yet taking in many different types of people.

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

Lines 71 - 75

No affair the corruption, the pursuit of freedom is pure and strong. Those who have exploited the poor and sucked out their lifeblood (note the simile - similar leeches) need to start thinking once again well-nigh ownership and rights to belongings.

Lines 76 - 79

A curt quatrain, a kind of summing upward of the speaker'south whole take on the American Dream. A direct declaration - the Dream will manifest at some time. It has to.

Lines lxxx - 86

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

Literary Devices in Allow America Exist America Again

Allow America Be America Once again is an 86 line verse form split into 17 stanzas, 3 of which are single lines, 2 of which are couplets. In addition, there are 4 quatrains, ii sextets, 1 octet, a twelve liner, ten liner, 9 liner, quintet, and a seven liner.

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

Permit'southward take a closer look at the literary devices:

Rhyme Scheme

Rhymes tend to bring familiarity and help reinforce significant. In poesy, there are elementary rhyme schemes and at that place are challenging ones. In this poem the rhyming pattern starts in a conventional style merely gradually becomes more circuitous.

For instance, take a look at the starting time 6 stanzas:

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

This is relatively easy to follow. At that place is an alternating pattern in the outset three quatrains, with the strong full vowel rhyme e dominant:

exist/costless/me/me/Liberty/free/me/free.

The total end rhymes leave the reader in no doubt about one of the main themes of this poem - freedom and me. A stiff pairing ensures a memorable bond.

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

• Notwithstanding further down the line so to speak, there are still loose echoes of the familiar alternate pattern established at the beginning of the poem.

Each of the larger stanzas contains some form of total rhyme, or full and slant rhyme:

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

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 total, they're a little bit out of harmony.

Every bit the poem progresses, rhyme becomes more intermittent and tends to condense in certain stanzas, as in stanza 13, pay/today and stanza fourteen, pain/rain/over again. The poet's aim with such concentrated rhyme is to make the words stick in the reader'due south mind and memory.

Literary Device (2)

Anaphora

Repetition plays an important role in this verse form and occurs throughout. When words and phrases are repeated this has a similar result to chanting, reinforcing meaning and giving the feel of power and accumulation of free energy.

From the kickoff stanza - Let America/Let information technology exist/Let it be - to the last - The state, the plants, the mines, the rivers - in that location are repeats. Some critics take likened them to song lyrics, others to parts of a political speech, where ideas and images are congenital up again and over again.

Alliteration

In that location 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 evidently/home where he himself/dream the dreamers dreamed/country exist a land where Liberty/slavery'southward scars.

Enjambment

Enjambment, when a line continues without punctuation on into the next, keeping the catamenia of sense, occurs in several stanzas. Look out for the 'open' stop lines which encourage the reader to not pause just proceed direct into the next line.

For example:

Allow it be the pioneer on the plain

Seeking a home where he himself is free.

and again:

Nosotros, the people, must redeem

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

Metaphor

Tangled in that endless ancient chain

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

Personification

That fifty-fifty yet its mighty daring sing

in every brick and stone, in every furrow turned

Sources

world wide web.poets.org

Norton Anthology,Norton, 2005

https://uwc.utexas.edu

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

© 2017 Andrew Spacey

henryligh1993.blogspot.com

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