ANALYSIS POEMS

CATALINA UCROS

Let America Be America Again by Langston Hughes
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 he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
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 land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")
Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
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 land,
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.
I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!
I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.
Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home--
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."
The free?
Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we 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 nothing for our pay--
Except the dream that's almost dead today.
O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.
Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
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 land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!


Let America Be America Again by Langston Hughes

The poem main theme is the change of America. Langston Hughes shows the
reader a very patriotic poem but from a black person perspective. This makes the
reader feel that he isnt so optimistic of a change in America, this is shown in But
opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe" "there has
never been equality for me "this instantly makes the reader feel as there is not
opportunity for everyone in America. The line references to the standards of living
in which the black people lived and their lack of privileges that take to
opportunities. Even though the poem is in first person Langston Hughes is
narrating as a representative of all minorities since in a vast country as America
they dont have an opportunity to progress.

The poem has los of rhetorical questions Who said the free? Not me? Making
the reader question about the freedom in America for these minorities especially
for the black people, this question is answered by himself by not me showing the
reader that America is not a free country.

The tone is very personal as he is telling a personal experience; this is due to the
narrators voice, which is in first person making a more intimate relation with the
reader. "O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, And yet I swear
this oath-- America will be!" This line expresses Langston Hughes ideas it can also
be interpreted as a political poem were he expresses his ideas of a new America
with equality for everyone.

Langston Hughes uses imagery to express his feelings towards America "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, These images are very vivid. They take the
reader back to the time were there was slavery and how the brutal violence leave
scars that are with them the rest of their lives. This creates an emotion of personal
suffering in the reader and commotion towards the minorities.

The rhythm of the poem is a fast. It is shown by the use of structure it has 12
stanzas with 85 verses. It has short verses that gives it a fast rhythm, at the
beginning of the poem there are parenthesis between the stanzas, this parenthesis
contradict with the idea explicit in the previous stanza. An example of this is (It
never was America to me.) after the second stanza were the author refers to the
dreams of America and how it is a land of love. At the middle and end of the poem
the author start using words or small phrases between the stanzas, this reassures
the idea explained in the stanza but at the same time making the reader confident
of what they are reading.

The most common literary device used in this poem is the anaphora and repetition.
There is a constant repetition of Let America be America this convinces the
reader that America is a place of change and that it will always be a wonderful
place. In the firsts stanzas the anaphora of Let it be is used to tell the reader that
America is not what it is internationally known or what it is supposed to be. At the
fourth stanza there is an anaphora of I am this makes reference to all the
minorities that couldnt benefit from America and couldnt achieve their American
dream. In stanza number 5 there is an anaphora of grab this gives a reader an
emotion as if America had grabbed something from someone to be able to become
what they are now. The anaphora is used to emphasize the inequality of America.
There are other literary devices in the poem such as similes From those who live
like leeches on the people's lives, this makes reference to a disgusting worm.
Langston Hughes compares life with worms, this show his discontent towards the
inequality of America.

The poem Let America be America shows a clear discontent towards the America
equality and is a poem that hopes for change, for a better change that will benefit
the minorities especially the black people that is represented by Langston Hughes.




Weary blues

Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,
I heard a Negro play.
Down on Lenox Avenue the other night
By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light
He did a lazy sway . . .
He did a lazy sway . . .
To the tune o' those Weary Blues.
With his ebony hands on each ivory key
He made that poor piano moan with melody.
O Blues!
Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool
He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool.
Sweet Blues!
Coming from a black man's soul.
O Blues!
In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone
I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan
"Ain't got nobody in all this world,
Ain't got nobody but ma self.
I's gwine to quit ma frownin'
And put ma troubles on the shelf."

Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.
He played a few chords then he sang some more
"I got the Weary Blues
And I can't be satisfied.
Got the Weary Blues
And can't be satisfied
I ain't happy no mo'
And I wish that I had died."
And far into the night he crooned that tune.
The stars went out and so did the moon.
The singer stopped playing and went to bed
While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.
He slept like a rock or a man that's dead.




WEARY BLUES
Langston Hughes wrote the poem in the 1920s. In this time there was change and
there was many new things especially in USA. One of the biggest changes in the
culture was the music. Black people singed blues and this makes a reference to the
poem since Langston Hughes defends and expresses black peoples feelings in his
poems.

The main theme of the poem the Weary Blues is suffering and culture more specific
blues music. This is noticed through all the poem as Langston Hughes repeats the
word blues Sweet blues and O blues! as if the Blues was the only way of expressing
its suffering.
The narrator is melancholic. The melancholy is related with the blues since its lyrics
show a sort of sadness Ain't got nobody in all this world, the autor could intent to
show the reader how the black people felt sometimes since they were segregated.
Even though there is some sort of excitement from the narrator telling the story of this
musician this is shown with the punctuation, in the verse oh blues.

The structure of the poem is of 35 verses. At the beginning it shows the location this is
Lenox Avenue, this is on Harlem and there is all the Afro Americans live this is why the
poem is located here. The verses are commonly short giving it a fast rhythm and
maintaining the readers attention. There are words between the stanzas that re
enforces the importance of Blues in this culture.

Onomatopoeia is present in thump thump thump this is used because it wants to
create attention to his audience and this way expresses the song with everyone
paying attention.
There is personification in line 10 He made that poor piano moan with melody.
Pianos dont really moan this is also a symbol of melancholic and its shown to
demonstrate the sadness of the song and its musician. The same personification
is shown in the line 18.

There is use of simile in line 13: He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool
it compares a tune with a fool, by degrading the status of tune. As so it creates the
tone and nourish the theme of suffering. There is also personification in line 35:
He slept like a rock or a man that's dead it compares the musician with a rock
making an image as if he was petrify or even dead. Langston Hughes introduces
the idea of death that is related to the theme of suffering. He ends the poem with
this line because it is also the end of the suffering of the musician by dying. The
musician has suffered all of his life as shown through out the poem and this will
only dead with his death.