Waking up from a dream and into a battlefield
This time around, we discussed the poems Let America be America Again, Merry Christmas, Kids who Die, the Ballad of Booker T and Alabama Earth. These are some of the longer poems of Hughes' that delve more into the hypocrisy of religious and political figures, the falsehood of the American dream, and the figures integral to abolishing slavery in the United States. Let America be America Again is one of Hughes' longer poems, reaching 86 lines, and it discusses the alienation of black people in the history and legacy of America and declares that perhaps one day we can acheieve this idealized version of America that is all inclusive. Merry Christmas and Kids who Die call out the militaristic powers governing America-Hughes stands up against the weaponization of Christianity and the glorification of violence seen in post-war, Great Depression America. The poems assert that the authorities that use these tactics use it on all oppressed and presumably lower class people. They force the kids who die and all minorities and poor people into wars that they did not initiate, and although Hughes maintains an air of hope for a new world and a lesson learned in Kids who Die, he implies that the powers that be intend to silence people and pass off their work as holy warfare or as something justifiable. He reveals the sickening reality of how the US government exploits the oppressed in order to further their power. The Ballad of Booker T and Alabama Earth finally discuss how black people and other minorities in America coped with the oppression, and eventually abolished slavery for themselves. In these two poems, he states the importance in living an honest, simple life, with love and a level head, and how to survive, through the allusions to Booker T. Through Booker T.'s actions and words, such as building a school and stating to "train your head and heart", and the imagery of humble tools, towers on shaky ground falling, and broken chains, Hughes discusses the ways in which African Americans learned about themselves and how they eventually emancipated themselves from slavery and segregation. From these poems, we gathered newer information on the style. Langston Hughes also uses other voices, and may also occassionally use dialogue, narratives, and rhyme that are not as prevalent in some of his other works.