Let America Be America Again

What is the overall tone of the poem?

• Motivated

• Disinterested

• Frustrated

• Enraged

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Throughout ''Let America Be America Again,'' Langston Hughes uses repetitive phrasing like _____ to illustrate his thoughts.

• America, the beautiful.

• America never was America to me.

• I am the ....

• This land is your land, this land is my land.

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CCSS.RL.11-12.8

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How does Langston Hughes personalize the poem, ''Let America Be America Again?''

• By repeating the phrase ''I am,'' when speaking about different types of people.

• By excluding certain categories of people like the poor and the destitute.

• By talking only about immigrants and their plight in the American dream.

• By mentioning different men and women by name.

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CCSS.RL.11-12.8

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What is the poet saying about the American Dream?

• the dream is available for everyone

• the dream is not available for minorities

• the dream is a lie for everyone

• the dream is not true for all people

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Which of the following best captures the voices expressed in this poem?

• voices of people who are in power

• voices of people who are oppressed

• voices of white people

• voices of black people

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CCSS.RL.11-12.8

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How does the poet’s use of phrases in parentheses in the first six stanzas of “Let America Be America Again” impact the tone at the beginning of the poem?

• The phrases repeat what is expressed about America in the first stanzas, creating condescending tone.

• The phrases express hopefulness for America, reinforcing an optimistic tone.

• The phrases represent the voice of ideal America, developing an ideal tone.

• The phrases assert a contrasting perspective of America, crafting a resentful tone.

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CCSS.RL.11-12.8

CCSS.RL.8.4

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CCSS.RL.9-10.10

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Read these lines from “Let America Be America Again.

” Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

What effect does the author create through the way he structures these lines in the poem?

• By italicizing these two lines, the author creates an outside voice that initiates a response from the people who have not experienced the luxuries of America.

• By italicizing these two lines, the author crafts a satirical voice to mock the speaker and the plight of the under-achiever in America.

• By separating these lines from the rest of the stanza, the author creates a voice of reflection that echoes the sentiments expressed in the first stanzas of the poem.

• By separating these lines from the rest of the stanza, the author crafts a desperate voice that warns of the destruction of the American Dream.

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CCSS.RL.11-12.8

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Read this stanza from “Let America Be America Again."

I am the young man, full of strength and hope, Tangled in that ancient endless chain Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land! Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need! Of work the men! Of take the pay! Of owning everything for one’s own greed!

What effect does the author create by the way he portrays the interactions between profit, greed, and power?

• It criticizes the American values of ownership and accumulation, implying that all forms of property and wealth are immoral and destructive.

• It contrasts the hope of future Americans with the past that robbed them of their pay, indicating that in the future the working man will be the one grabbing for gold.

• It highlights the idea that the American Dream is often focused on greed and how the speaker is forced to partake in the power struggle that exists in the nation.

• It applauds the work ethic of the youth of America and their place in the “chain” of American entrepreneurial success.

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Which of the following best captures Hughes' purpose for writing this poem?

• to remind the general population of America's values and insist that it return to the way it was before.

• to highlight injustices and encourage the creation of an America in which all people can achieve the dream.

• to initiate an uproar from people who are oppressed, encouraging them to protest those in power.

• to persuade the people to help those who are oppressed.

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CCSS.RL.11-12.8

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What literary device is used in the last stanza with the line 'We the people, must redeem..."?

• Repetition

• Paradox

• Allusion

• Personification

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