Compare and contrast Claude McKay poem `America with Langston Hughes poem ` Let Ameica be America`

Exploring America Through Literary Devices in McKay and Hughes

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McKay and Langston Hughes are two of the most prominent poets of the Harlem Renaissance . Both of the poets offer vivid imagery , complex themes , and an exploration of the African American experience America ' by McKay and Let America be America Again ' Langston Hughes are both excellent and representative poems of the Harlem Renaissance . America ' is a poem which embraces the good and bad that America has to offer . McKay asserts in his poem that while the American experience may

be hard it is also responsible for the unique America character which is strong and independent . Much of McKay 's view is read from an outsider looking in . His poem is structure and tight adhering to the formal conventions of poetry set forth centuries ago . Hughes , in Let America be America Again , is inspired by his own experiences and really disappointments America . C .K . Doreski , in "Langston Hughes and the Chicago Defender : Essays on Race , Politics , and Culture , 1942-62 states "Hughes often drew literary inspiration from his community journalism . These occasional pieces , without the narrative autonomy of Simple 's aestheticized space or their journalistic context , struggle to survive their historical remove (Doreski , 1998 ,

. 242

Growing up in a country which claims to offer freedom , liberty , and prosperity and having access to of it creates a frustration , which Hughes shares . Through the use of the same literary devices McKay and Hughes explore the American experience

McKay was born in Jamaica and started his writing career early . He was compared to Richard Burns . In Jamaica he was consider a master of writing the Jamaican dialect . He published two books of poetry , before the age of 23 , and then traveled to the United States . Mckay never forgot his cultural roots and he carried those throughout his time in the United States . McKay was not a native to the United States and this may account for the different approach to writing about America than Langston Hughes . McKay did not come from a family that was plagued by a history of slavery and oppression from his birth . Langston Hughes are born in the middle of the South . Joseph McLaren , in Langston Hughes Folk Dramatist in the Protest Tradition , 1921-1943 , reflects Although Langston Hughes 's literary reputation rests securely on his achievements as a poet , he also earned substantial recognition in the field of drama "which , second only to poetry , was his favorite genre (McLaren , 1997 br

. 1 . He lived on and off between his parents and family until out of high school . McKay was influence by his Jamaican past which embraced his cultural . Tyrone Tillery , in A Black Poet 's Struggle for Identity A Black Poet 's Struggle for Identity , believes "Hughes spoke passionately about his disappointment with blacks who were afraid of being themselves . Their tendency to ape white ways of doing things threatened to choke Negro art (Tillery , 1992 ,

. 102 . Hughes was influence by a country which told him everyday...