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Langston HughesA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The theme of patriotism—love of country—and the hope and pride that it engenders is clear from first line to last. In the very first stanza, the poem invokes the American dream, the pioneers, and the idea of freedom. In the next stanza, the speaker embraces the ideal of America as it was conceived, a “great strong land of love” (Line 7). Even after qualifications and negations appear, as the speaker explores the ways in which America does not live up to its ideal, the surging hope that the nation will shake itself free of its inadequacies and be the country that it proclaims itself to be never disappears for long. It can be heard early on in the call for “Liberty” (Line 11), with its echo of the Declaration of Independence, and for freedom, opportunity, and equality—qualities that define what America is or aspires to be. References to the dream with its “mighty daring” (Line 42) abound—about a dozen in all.
Optimism shines out in the later part of the poem, as the speaker resembles someone who has been traveling underground for a while but is now emerging again into the clear light of day, in which the land that America dreamed of becoming “must be—the land where every man is free” (Line 64).
By Langston Hughes
Children’s Rhymes
Children’s Rhymes
Langston Hughes
Cora Unashamed
Cora Unashamed
Langston Hughes
Dreams
Dreams
Langston Hughes
Harlem
Harlem
Langston Hughes
I look at the world
I look at the world
Langston Hughes
I, Too
I, Too
Langston Hughes
Me and the Mule
Me and the Mule
Langston Hughes
Mother to Son
Mother to Son
Langston Hughes
Mulatto
Mulatto
Langston Hughes
Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life
Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life
Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston
Not Without Laughter
Not Without Laughter
Langston Hughes
Slave on the Block
Slave on the Block
Langston Hughes
Thank You, M'am
Thank You, M'am
Langston Hughes
The Big Sea
The Big Sea
Langston Hughes
Theme for English B
Theme for English B
Langston Hughes
The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain
The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain
Langston Hughes
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Langston Hughes
The Ways of White Folks
The Ways of White Folks
Langston Hughes
The Weary Blues
The Weary Blues
Langston Hughes
Tired
Tired
Langston Hughes
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