Let America Be America Again: Poem Analysis

In the poem “Let America be America Again” by Langston Hughes, the speaker emphasizes a change that needs to be made in America. Langston Hughes brings about the problem of how America has veered from its original dream as a land for the free, now it operates being ran by oppressive powers starving the American people. He speaks to the people of America and the minorities of America in particular, to bring a change and take back what they've worked so hard and long for, our freedom. The speaker's use of a disappointed fed up tone and repetition in the beginning of the poem points out the false promise of freedom in everyday America. “O, let my land be a land where Liberty Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath”. America’s original dream of freedom isn't the dream anymore today, and the speaker insinuates that because of this inequality we have never experienced true freedom. He voices what maybe many people are thinking, there isn’t any freedom in the so-called “homeland of the
The author’s repetition of the phrase “I am the” individualizes the struggles of all people in America: the impoverished people of America, the indigenous people of robbed of their land, and the immigrants who've come from far with hopes of opportunity. The use of these devices also ties into the anger the speaker has for the reused plan of oppressive power that. “Who said free? Not me” The authors uses an angry tone when explaining how all efforts have failed when we meet the government with defiance. “The millions shot down when we strike?/ The millions who have nothing for our pay?” “All the songs we’ve sung” The use of this tones attempts to bring the anger out of the audience in hopes of motivating the American people to control and use their anger in positive a way that can revive the dying