Let America Be America Again - Langston Hughes - REG LEVEL

Let America Be America Again - Langston Hughes

Mrs. Schwarz, Ms. Douglas and Ms. Fuentes

Objectives:

• To read and analyze poetry

• To uncover the theme of a poem

• To identify the speaker's tone and analyze shifts in tone where they occur.

Open Ended

What does the term "American Dream" mean to you?

Multiple Choice

Alliteration is the repeating of the same initial sounds in a line of poetry.

Do now: Read this excerpt from Amanda Gorman's "The Hill We Climb"

"That even as we grieved, we grew. That even as we hurt, we hoped. That even as we tired, we tried that will forever be tied together victorious. Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division."

What purpose does the alliteration serve in this instance?

• It contributes to a comedic mood that is evident throughout the poem

• It brings our attention to the contrast in words, the latter of the two revealing the theme of America's undying resilience.

• It compares the two words without using like or as

• To ensure that this poem is catchy

Multiple Choice

Key term: What does author's tone refer to?

• The feeling the READER gets while reading?

• A comparison between two things using like or as

• The attitude of the AUTHOR or SPEAKER about the subject they are writing about.

• The message or meaning of a literary work

Open Ended

What is the THEME of a literary work?

Vocabulary you need to know:

• bondsman - enslaved person

• serf - person who lives on a plot of land and works for the owner of that land (sharecropping, form of slavery)

• Rhetorical Question - A Question asked for effect, with an answer already known and not expected.

Let America be America Again

Let's take a look at the PDF

Let America be America Again

• IMAGERY

• TONE

• RHETORICAL QUESTIONS

• THEME

Let America be America Again

• What images are generated?

• What is the purpose of the parentheses?

• What is the purpose of the rhetorical questions?

• What is the tone at the start of the poem...how about the end??

• What is the theme? (message about America/Opportunity/Freedom)