Language

The language used by Langston Hughes in the poem “Let America Be America Again” is contemporary with the poet and reflects the style of the time. 

The poet’s choice of words helps him create a tense atmosphere that shows how the meaning of the American Dream does not apply to the working class. The author uses words and expressions with negative meanings, like “profit, power, gain” (l. 27), “rack and ruin” (l. 80), “death” (l. 80), and “rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies” (l. 81) to illustrate the reality of America he lives in. Moreover, negative adjectives like “humble, hungry, mean” (l. 34), “poor” (l. 19), and “fooled and pushed apart” (l. 19) describe the condition of minorities and people belonging to the lower class. Words that ...