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"Let America Be America Again" is a poem written by Langston Hughes in 1935 and published the following year. Hughes wrote the poem while riding a train from New York City to Ohio and reflecting on his life as a struggling writer during the Great Depression. In the poem, Hughes describes his own disillusionment with the American Dream and suggests that the United States has failed to fulfill its promise of freedom and equality for all people. The poem initially follows a traditional rhyme scheme before giving way to free verse and delving into the speaker's unconventional attitudes towards the American Dream.
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The Full Text of “Let America Be America Again”
The Full Text of “Let America Be America Again”
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“Let America Be America Again” Summary
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“Let America Be America Again” Themes
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The Failure of the American Dream
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-2
- Lines 3-4
- Line 5
- Lines 6-7
- Lines 8-9
- Line 10
- Lines 11-14
- Lines 15-16
- Lines 19-33
- Lines 34-51
- Lines 52-61
- Lines 62-64
- Lines 64-72
- Lines 73-79
- Lines 82-86
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Oppression in the United States
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Line 5
- Lines 7-9
- Line 10
- Lines 15-16
- Lines 17-18
- Lines 19-38
- Lines 39-44
- Lines 45-50
- Lines 52-55
- Lines 62-64
- Lines 65-70
- Lines 80-82
- Line 86
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Greed, Class, and Labor
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Line 5
- Lines 7-9
- Line 10
- Lines 13-40
- Lines 45-70
- Lines 73-74
- Lines 80-86
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Let America Be America Again”
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Lines 1-5
Let America be ...
... America to me.) -
Lines 6-10
Let America be ...
... America to me.) -
Lines 11-14
O, let my ...
... air we breathe. -
Lines 15-18
(There’s never been ...
... across the stars? -
Lines 19-24
I am the ...
... crush the weak. -
Lines 25-30
I am the ...
... one’s own greed! -
Lines 31-36
I am the ...
... yet today—O, Pioneers! -
Lines 37-40
I am the ...
... serf of kings, -
Lines 41-46
Who dreamt a ...
... be my home— -
Lines 47-50
For I’m the ...
... of the free.” -
Lines 51-55
The free? ...
... for our pay? -
Lines 56-61
For all the ...
... almost dead today. -
Lines 62-70
O, let America ...
... mighty dream again. -
Lines 71-75
Sure, call me ...
... America! -
Lines 76-79
O, yes, I ...
... America will be! -
Lines 80-86
Out of the ...
... make America again!
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“Let America Be America Again” Symbols
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America
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Line 1: “America,” “America”
- Line 5: “America,” “America”
- Line 6: “America”
- Line 10: “America”
- Line 44: “America”
- Line 62: “America,” “America”
- Line 67: “America”
- Line 75: “America!”
- Line 77: “America,” “America”
- Line 79: “America”
- Line 86: “America”
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Pioneer
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Line 3: “pioneer”
- Line 36: “Pioneers!”
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“Let America Be America Again” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Metaphor
Where metaphor appears in the poem:- Line 2: “Let it be the dream it used to be.”
- Lines 3-4: “Let it be the pioneer on the plain / Seeking a home where he himself is free.”
- Line 6: “Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—”
- Line 7: “Let it be that great strong land of love”
- Lines 11-12: “O, let my land be a land where Liberty / Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,”
- Line 14: “Equality is in the air we breathe.”
- Lines 17-18: “Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? / And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?”
- Lines 19-23: “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”
- Line 24: “Of dog eat dog,”
- Lines 25-27: “I am the young man, full of strength and hope, / Tangled in that ancient endless chain / Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!”
- Lines 31-32: “I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil. / I am the worker sold to the machine.”
- Lines 33-38: “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.”
- Lines 41-44: “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.”
- Line 72: “The steel of freedom does not stain.”
- Lines 80-81: “Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death, / The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,”
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Imagery
Where imagery appears in the poem:- Lines 11-12: “O, let my land be a land where Liberty / Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,”
- Lines 17-18: “Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? / And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?”
- Lines 25-26: “I am the young man, full of strength and hope, / Tangled in that ancient endless chain”
- Lines 45-50: “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.””
- Line 72: “The steel of freedom does not stain.”
- Lines 80-86: “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!”
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Repetition
Where repetition appears in the poem:- Line 1: “Let America be America again.”
- Line 2: “dream”
- Line 4: “free”
- Line 5: “(America never was America to me.)”
- Line 6: “Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—”
- Line 7: “land”
- Line 10: “(It never was America to me.)”
- Line 11: “land,” “land,” “Liberty”
- Line 13: “free,”
- Line 16: “homeland,” “free”
- Line 21: “land”
- Line 27: “grab the,” “land”
- Line 28: “Of grab the gold,” “Of grab the ways”
- Line 34: “hungry”
- Line 35: “Hungry,” “dream”
- Line 39: “dreamt,” “dream”
- Line 41: “dreamt a dream”
- Line 44: “America,” “land”
- Line 50: “homeland,” “free”
- Line 51: “free”
- Line 52: “free”
- Line 56: “dreams we’ve dreamed”
- Line 57: “songs we’ve sung”
- Line 61: “dream”
- Line 62: “let America be America again—”
- Line 63: “land”
- Line 64: “land,” “free”
- Line 65: “land”
- Line 67: “America”
- Line 72: “freedom”
- Line 74: “land”
- Line 75: “America!”
- Line 77: “America never was America to me,”
- Line 79: “America”
- Line 83: “land”
- Line 85: “All, all ”
- Line 86: “America”
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Enjambment
Where enjambment appears in the poem:- Lines 3-4: “plain / Seeking”
- Lines 7-8: “love / Where”
- Lines 8-9: “scheme / That”
- Lines 11-12: “Liberty / Is”
- Lines 23-24: “plan / Of”
- Lines 26-27: “chain / Of”
- Lines 39-40: “dream / In”
- Lines 42-43: “sings / In”
- Lines 43-44: “turned / That’s”
- Lines 45-46: “seas / In”
- Lines 49-50: “came / To”
- Lines 82-83: “redeem / The”
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Allusion
Where allusion appears in the poem:- Lines 8-9: “Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme / That any man be crushed by one above.”
- Lines 11-12: “O, let my land be a land where Liberty / Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,”
- Line 16: ““homeland of the free.””
- Lines 19-22: “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—”
- Line 33: “I am the Negro, servant to you all.”
- Line 36: “O, Pioneers!”
- Lines 45-46: “O, I’m the man who sailed those early seas / In search of what I meant to be my home—”
- Lines 47-48: “For I’m the one who left dark Ireland’s shore, / And Poland’s plain, and England’s grassy lea,”
- Line 49: “And torn from Black Africa’s strand I came”
- Line 50: ““homeland of the free.””
- Lines 53-55: “The millions on relief today? / The millions shot down when we strike? / The millions who have nothing for our pay?”
- Line 57: “And all the songs we’ve sung”
- Line 59: “And all the flags we’ve hung,”
- Line 82: “We, the people,”
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Personification
Where personification appears in the poem:- Lines 41-44: “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.”
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Rhetorical Question
Where rhetorical question appears in the poem:- Lines 17-18: “Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? / And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?”
- Lines 51-55: “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?”
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Caesura
Where caesura appears in the poem:- Line 11: “O, let”
- Line 13: “real, and”
- Line 17: “Say, who”
- Line 19: “white, fooled”
- Line 24: “dog, of ”
- Line 25: “man, full”
- Line 27: “profit, power, gain, of”
- Line 28: “gold! Of”
- Line 29: “men! Of”
- Line 31: “farmer, bondsman”
- Line 33: “Negro, servant”
- Line 34: “people, humble, hungry, mean”
- Line 36: “today—O, Pioneers”
- Line 41: “strong, so brave, so”
- Line 43: “stone, in”
- Line 45: “O, I’m”
- Line 48: “plain, and”
- Line 52: “free? Not”
- Line 53: “me? The”
- Line 62: “O, let”
- Line 64: “be—the”
- Line 65: “mine—the,” “man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s”
- Line 68: “blood, whose”
- Line 69: “foundry, whose”
- Line 71: “Sure, call”
- Line 76: “O, yes, I”
- Line 81: “graft, and stealth, and”
- Line 82: “We, the people, must”
- Line 83: “land, the mines, the plants, the”
- Line 85: “All, all”
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Anaphora
Where anaphora appears in the poem:- Line 1: “Let America be America again.”
- Line 2: “Let it be”
- Line 3: “Let it be”
- Line 6: “Let America be”
- Line 7: “Let it be”
- Line 19: “I am”
- Line 20: “I am”
- Line 21: “I am”
- Line 22: “I am”
- Line 24: “Of,” “of”
- Line 25: “I am”
- Line 27: “Of”
- Line 28: “Of,” “Of”
- Line 29: “Of,” “Of”
- Line 30: “Of”
- Line 31: “I am”
- Line 32: “I am”
- Line 33: “I am”
- Line 34: “I am”
- Line 37: “I am”
- Line 39: “I’m the one”
- Line 47: “I’m the one”
- Line 53: “The millions”
- Line 54: “The millions”
- Line 55: “The millions”
- Line 56: “For all the”
- Line 57: “And all the”
- Line 58: “And all the”
- Line 59: “And all the”
- Line 60: “The millions”
- Line 68: “Whose,” “whose”
- Line 69: “Whose,” “whose”
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Alliteration
Where alliteration appears in the poem:- Line 1: “America,” “America,” “again”
- Line 3: “pioneer,” “plain”
- Line 4: “home,” “he himself”
- Line 6: “dream,” “dreamers dreamed”
- Line 7: “land,” “love”
- Line 8: “kings connive,” “scheme”
- Line 9: “crushed”
- Line 11: “let,” “land,” “land,” “Liberty”
- Line 19: “poor,” “pushed apart”
- Line 20: “slavery’s scars”
- Line 22: “seek”
- Line 23: “same,” “stupid”
- Line 27: “profit,” “power,” “gain,” “grab”
- Line 28: “grab,” “gold,” “grab”
- Line 29: “pay”
- Line 30: “greed”
- Line 34: “humble,” “hungry”
- Line 35: “Hungry,” “despite,” “dream”
- Line 39: “dreamt,” “dream”
- Line 40: “still,” “serf”
- Line 41: “dreamt,” “dream,” “so strong,” “so,” “so”
- Line 42: “sings”
- Line 43: “stone”
- Line 45: “sailed,” “seas”
- Line 46: “search”
- Line 48: “Poland’s plain”
- Line 56: “dreams,” “dreamed”
- Line 57: “songs,” “sung”
- Line 58: “hopes,” “held”
- Line 61: “dream,” “dead”
- Line 62: “America,” “America again”
- Line 70: “bring back”
- Line 72: “steel,” “stain”
- Line 73: “live like leeches,” “lives”
- Line 80: “rack,” “ruin,” “gangster”
- Line 81: “rape,” “rot,” “graft”
- Line 82: “redeem”
- Line 85: “stretch,” “great green,” “states”
- Line 86: “America again”
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Assonance
Where assonance appears in the poem:- Line 1: “America,” “America again”
- Line 2: “be,” “dream,” “be”
- Line 4: “Seeking,” “free”
- Line 5: “me”
- Line 6: “be,” “dream,” “dreamers,” “dreamed”
- Line 8: “connive,” “tyrants”
- Line 9: “crushed,” “one above”
- Line 11: “be,” “Liberty”
- Line 12: “wreath”
- Line 13: “opportunity,” “real,” “free”
- Line 14: “Equality,” “we breathe”
- Line 15: “equality,” “me”
- Line 16: “freedom,” “free”
- Line 17: “who,” “you,” “dark”
- Line 18: “who,” “you,” “stars”
- Line 19: “apart”
- Line 20: “scars”
- Line 22: “hope,” “seek”
- Line 23: “only,” “old”
- Line 24: “eat,” “mighty,” “weak”
- Line 26: “Tangled,” “ancient,” “chain”
- Line 27: “gain”
- Line 28: “ways,” “need”
- Line 29: “take,” “pay”
- Line 30: “greed”
- Line 34: “people,” “humble,” “hungry,” “mean”
- Line 35: “Hungry,” “dream”
- Line 36: “Beaten”
- Line 38: “years”
- Line 39: “dream”
- Line 48: “lea”
- Line 49: “Black Africa’s”
- Line 50: “free”
- Line 51: “free”
- Line 52: “free,” “me”
- Line 53: “Surely,” “me,” “relief”
- Line 56: “dreams,” “dreamed”
- Line 62: “let,” “again”
- Line 63: “never,” “been,” “yet”
- Line 64: “yet,” “be,” “land,” “every,” “man,” “free”
- Line 68: “faith,” “pain”
- Line 69: “foundry,” “plow,” “rain”
- Line 70: “again”
- Line 72: “steel,” “freedom,” “stain”
- Line 73: “leeches,” “people’s”
- Line 74: “again”
- Line 76: “say,” “plain”
- Line 77: “me”
- Line 79: “be”
- Line 82: “We,” “people,” “redeem”
- Line 83: “land,” “plants”
- Line 84: “plain”
- Line 85: “great,” “states”
- Line 86: “make”
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“Let America Be America Again” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Pioneer
- Connive
- Tyrant
- Red man
- Bondsman
- Barter
- Serf
- Relief
- Foundry
- Graft
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(Location in poem: Line 3: “pioneer”; Line 36: “Pioneers”)
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Let America Be America Again”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Let America Be America Again” Speaker
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“Let America Be America Again” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Let America Be America Again”
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More “Let America Be America Again” Resources
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External Resources
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The Poem Out Loud — Listen to a full reading of the poem by Danez Smith at The Loft Literary Center.
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The Great Depression — A resource for those interested in learning more about the Great Depression and its lasting impact on American society.
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Biography of Langston Hughes — A biographical account of Hughes's life and work.
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The Harlem Renaissance — A detailed overview of the Harlem Renaissance and its impact on American literature.
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The Legacy of Langston Hughes — An NPR podcast covering the life and work of Langston Hughes, including a reading and discussion of "Let America Be America Again."
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Langston Hughes
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