https://poets.org/poem/let-america-be-america-again
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44428/the-negro-speaks-of-rivers
Explain how Hughes characterizes African-American culture and American culture more broadly in the two stories. Use these questions to express your thinking?
How is African-American culture characterized? Do you see joy? oppression? laughter? love? resilience? beauty? What kinds of images are associated with these ideas?
What is the function of parentheses in Hughes’s poetry? Why are some phrases in parentheses?
Where do you see metaphors, similes, repetition, or synecdoche (part standing in for a whole) in his poem?
How does jazz figure into his poetry? How does the rhythm of jazz appear in his poetry?
