Question

In this week of protest poetry, we see a lot of poets picking up on Whitman's formal techniques and using them to new ends. In these lines from Langston Hughes's 'Let America Be America Again' – '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' – we see which poetic devices?

Answer 1

In Hughes's poem, poetic devices such as anaphora, imagery, and connotation create a powerful critique of societal marginalization.

Step-by-step explanation:

In Langston Hughes's 'Let America Be America Again,' the poetic devices primarily seen are anaphora, imagery, and connotation. Anaphora is the repetition of the phrase 'I am' at the beginning of each line, which creates a rhythmic pattern and emphasizes the various identities the speaker assumes. Imagery is employed through the references to 'the poor white,' 'the negro bearing slavery's scars,' and 'the red man driven from the land,' painting a vivid picture of the different marginalized groups in America. Connotation is found in the words chosen, such as 'fooled,' 'pushed apart,' and 'driven from the land,' which carry negative associations and contribute to the poem's critique of the American dream's inaccessibility to these groups.