Analysis Of Let America Be America Again By Langston Hughes

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“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.” In the poem “Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes, the reader hears from two different speakers, and how they both separately want America to change. One of the speakers wants America to go back to what it was before, while the other responds in small comments, building up to say the quote above. The author is also very smart in how he lays out the poem, and what messages he’s trying to convey. In the poem “Let America Be America Again” the author has two separate speakers with contradicting thoughts, the author relates to problems that were happening in …show more content…

In the beginning, the speaker begins talking about how they want America to revert to its state previous to what it was in the present. The tone of the first speaker is very relaxed and calm but shows that they are eager for something to change. The speaker states,”Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be.” The second speaker replied in a bitter tone and whispers,” America was never America to me.” After that, the speaker states,”O, let my land be a land where Liberty is crowned with no false patriotic wreath.” What the author is doing here is personifying liberty and is symbolizing that in America the citizens actually have liberty and are very proud …show more content…

This poem was written by Langston Hughes and an African-American man who was alive from 1902-1967. Obviously, times were a lot different to what rights certain groups had. His writing definitely reflects on opinions of that time period. The poem starts out with the first speaker saying that we need to revert back to our ways before. That we needed to let America be America again. The first speaker represents the more conservative majority of that time period. Of course, the majority wanted things to go back to how they were before. After the first speaker says this, there is a small comment that says that America was never America to me. From this, I assume that this is intended to be a comment from a minority. It is not loud enough or a strong enough comment to be heard yet, but it is definitely there. The first speaker then speaks about how great America was before, while the small comments become longer, and more powerful statements. The first speaker continues by saying that everyone has liberty and equality. The second voice then makes an even longer and more powerful statement by saying,”There’s never been equality for me. Nor freedom in this ‘homeland of the free.’” This is when the first speaker stops and acknowledges the smaller voice. This symbolizes the Civil Rights Act in a

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