Politics in Verse
Langston Hughes knew the meaning of adversity firsthand. As a black man living in the
early twentieth century, he encountered many different struggles on a daily basis. Though
he could have easily become jaded by this, he instead strived to overcome and led others to
do the same through his contributions to the literary world (Michaels). A prime example of
one of his motivational works is Let America Be America Again. His critique of America
reached out to not only to fellow blacks, but just about every other group that modern
American society had wronged. The statements made in the poem are very
straightforward, but by using multiple literary and poetic devices, Hughes manages to
deliver his message powerfully and very effectively.
Let America Be America Again starts out simply with easy quatrains in an ABAB rhyme
scheme (893 lines 1-14). He writes of America as an omniscient narrator, however, after
each stanza, he parenthetically places his own thoughts about how the legend of America
never was what it was supposed to be to him. By doing this, he manages to subtly insert
his opinion at first, allowing the reader to form their own, thus far, anyway.
Later in the poem, however, Hughes breaks away from the simple quatrain. He slowly
abandons the rhyme scheme previously mentioned as well, as his thoughts become more
fervent. By switching from mild mannered statements to exclamations, the reader can
easily feel the mounting emotion in the poem. He writes as if he has experienced the
