Idealism in Let America Be America Again by Langston Hughes Essay

Idealism in Let the States Be the States Again by Langston Hughes In the poem Let the States Be America Again, Langston Hughes paints a vivid word picture of a depressed America in the 1930s. To many living in America, the idealism presented as the American Dream had escaped their grasp. In this poetic expression, a speaker is allowed to voice the unknown Americans concern of how America was intended to be, had become to them, and could aspire to be again. Using a conversational style, the author allows the speaker and listener to interact with each other. The counter addressed is that America is not the democratic ideal of all of its people. The original speaker begins in a fairly common quatrain stanza however, when the listener is allowed to respond, the stanzas become crooked indicating the passion felt as well as the urgency of the message. The listeners response contains the main idea of the piece, comparing the democratic ideal to the conditions of those who are victims because of race, age, or frugal status. The authors careful use of alliteration in phrases such as pushed apart (19) and slaverys scars (20) emphasizes the struggles and alienation experienced by less fortunate Americans. The speaker begins the narration by making a statement that America should return to the idealistic way it used to be Let it be the dream it used to be (2). therefore the narrator continues to relate nostalgically the longing for an America built on freedom and equality for all. This could be the dream of the author himself. Wagner states of the author, Like his first get the hang Whitman and Sandburg, like his fellow black Toomer, and like so many other American poets of the period, Lan... ...tion in Depression (Ramperstad 371). Commenting on this poem and its author, Langston Hughes, Ramperstad observes, Perhaps his finest poem of the mid-thirties combined his will to revolution with his Whitman-like nostalgia for a vanishing Ameri ca. Hughes gives us a richer insight of American idealism, American realism, and what, America will be (73). Works Cited Hughes, Langston. Let America Be America Again. _Literature An Introduction to Reading and Writing_. 4th ed. Eds. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall, 1995. 723-24. Rampersad, Arnold. Langston Hughes. _Voices & Visions the Poet in America_. Ed. Helen Vendler. New York Random House, 1987. 352-93. Wagner, Jean. Langston Hughes. _Black Poets of the United States_. Trans. Kenneth Douglas. Chicago U of Illinois P, 1973, 385-474.