Let America Be America Again: Poem Analysis

In Langston Hughes’ “Let America Be America Again”, this poem shows how the author is asking for the return of the original American dream. Hughes began the poem with the general idea of the American dream but as the poem went on, he talked about the cruel realities faced by people who are in the lower class of the American society and that the American dream was never true for them, including himself. In the first two stanza, Hughes showed a positive tone when he said “let it be that great strong land of love”（line 7）This line shows how in Hughes’ heart, America should be a land that makes people feel secured and surrounded by warmth and love. But after Hughes stated how he thinks America should be, he used words …show more content…
When Hughes started to say phrases like “bring back our mighty dream again” (line 69), “The steel of freedom does not stain” (line 71), and “We must take back our land again” (line 73), the way Hughes talked to the americans in the second half the poem provided some hope to people who have been struggling and working, “who have nothing”(line 60) except for dreams that are “almost dead.”(line 61) Hughes used repetition again of the word “again” is to remind the americans of how happy and meaningful America was in the past and also a way to encourage the people and tell them that America could be and will be the America it use to be if everyone maintains their hope for the American dream. Hughes also used the word “oath” in line 78 to show his seriousness of achieve American dream. He also used “I” to make it more personal by telling the reader that he is making a promise to the people in America and he will bring back the America that they once had. The use of exclamation mark after “America!”, “America will be!”, and “make America again!” shows how strong and passionate he is towards achieving American dream and this strong and passionate attitude he presented will also emotionally influence his readers by bring out their passion