Poetry Paper
Poem:
Langston Hughes’s “Let America Be America Again”
4-5 pages (1400-1750 words)
Prompt:
Option 2 – The Promise and Failure of the American Dream
Compare the commentaries the texts produce regarding the class theme of the promise and failure of the American dream. (You can include different kinds of exclusion from the American dream in this.) How are the authors commenting on this theme in their own contemporary world? In other words, what kinds of commentary or critiques are they offering about the world at the time the text was written through their depiction? (These should be more specific than just saying inequality is bad, for example.) How do these commentaries compare/contrast? What larger significance can you uncover from this comparison? How accurate are the commentaries the authors create in both the world contemporary to the author and our own present day? (These worlds may be the same in some cases.) Do you agree or disagree? Why?
Sources:
3-4 relevant credible sources that contain good depth (poems and other primary texts you are examining are not considered sources). Your sources should be brought in to support your reading of the text. While some of the source material may focus on historical/biographical context, you will need to find research that focuses more on the texts as well, which means finding critical readings of the texts from published scholars.
You should use at least two traditional scholarly sources that are peer-reviewed or come from a university press.
Cite sources using MLA style.
No AI use or generated text. Provide a TurnItIn report to prove this.
