The Dream of Poetry by Juan Felipe Herrera & Langston Hughes

have the writer do task one of answering the three questions.



Prompt:



Read the following two poems and then complete the tasks that follow:





Poem #1:



"Let America Be America Again"

by Langston Hughes





Let America be America again.

Let it be the dream it used to be.

Let it be the pioneer on the plain

Seeking a home where he himself is free.



(America never was America to me.)



Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—

Let it be that great strong land of love

Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme

That any man be crushed by one above.



(It never was America to me.)



O, let my land be a land where Liberty

Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,

But opportunity is real, and life is free,

Equality is in the air we breathe.



(There's never been equality for me,

Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")



Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?

And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?



I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,

I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.

I am the red man driven from the land,

I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—

And finding only the same old stupid plan

Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.



I am the young man, full of strength and hope,

Tangled in that ancient endless chain

Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!

Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!

Of work the men! Of take the pay!

Of owning everything for one's own greed!



I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.

I am the worker sold to the machine.

I am the Negro, servant to you all.

I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—

Hungry yet today despite the dream.

Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!

I am the man who never got ahead,

The poorest worker bartered through the years.



Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream

In the Old World while still a serf of kings,

Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,

That even yet its mighty daring sings

In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned

That's made America the land it has become.

O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas

In search of what I meant to be my home—

For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,

And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,

And torn from Black Africa's strand I came

To build a "homeland of the free."



The free?



Who said the free? Not me?

Surely not me? The millions on relief today?

The millions shot down when we strike?

The millions who have nothing for our pay?

For all the dreams we've dreamed

And all the songs we've sung

And all the hopes we've held

And all the flags we've hung,

The millions who have nothing for our pay—

Except the dream that's almost dead today.



O, let America be America again—

The land that never has been yet—

And yet must be—the land where every man is free.

The land that's mine—the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME—

Who made America,

Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,

Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,

Must bring back our mighty dream again.



Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—

The steel of freedom does not stain.

From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,

We must take back our land again,

America!



O, yes,

I say it plain,

America never was America to me,

And yet I swear this oath—

America will be!



Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,

The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,

We, the people, must redeem

The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.

The mountains and the endless plain—

All, all the stretch of these great green states—

And make America again!







Poem #2





"Borderbus"

By Juan Felipe Herrera







A dónde vamos where are we going



Speak in English or the guard is going to come



A dónde vamos where are we going



Speak in English or the guard is gonna get us hermana



Pero qué hicimos but what did we do



Speak in English come on



Nomás sé unas pocas palabras I just know a few words







You better figure it out hermana the guard is right there



See the bus driver







Tantos días y ni sabíamos para donde íbamos



So many days and we didn't even know where we were headed







I know where we're going



Where we always go



To some detention center to some fingerprinting hall or cube



Some warehouse warehouse after warehouse







Pero ya nos investigaron ya cruzamos ya nos cacharon



Los federales del bordo qué más quieren



But they already questioned us we already crossed over they



already grabbed us the Border Patrol what more do they want







We are on the bus now



that is all







A dónde vamos te digo salí desde Honduras



No hemos comido nada y dónde vamos a dormir







Where are we going I am telling you I came from Honduras



We haven’t eaten anything and where are we going to sleep







I don’t want to talk about it just tell them



That you came from nowhere



I came from nowhere



And we crossed the border from nowhere



And now you and me and everybody else here is



On a bus to nowehere you got it?







Pero por eso nos venimos para salir de la nada



But that’s why we came to leave all that nothing behind







When the bus stops there will be more nothing



We’re here hermana







Y esas gentes quiénes son



no quieren que siga el camión



No quieren que sigamos



Están bloqueando el bus



A dónde vamos ahora



Those people there who are they



they don't want the bus to keep going



they don't want us to keep going



now they are blocking the bus



so where do we go







What?







He tardado 47 días para llegar acá no fue fácil hermana



45 días desde Honduras con los coyotes los que se — bueno



ya sabes lo que les hicieron a las chicas allí mero en frente



de nosotros pero qué íbamos a hacer y los trenes los trenes



cómo diré hermana cientos de



nosotros como gallinas como topos en jaulas y verduras



pudriendóse en los trenes de miles me oyes de miles y se resbalaban



de los techos y los desiertos de Arizona de Tajas sed y hambre



sed y hambre dos cosas sed y hambre día tras día hermana



y ahora aquí en este camión y quién sabe a dónde



vamos hermana fijate vengo desde Brownsville dónde nos amarraron



y ahora en California pero todavía no entramos y todavía el bordo



está por delante



It took me 47 days to get here it wasn't easy hermana



45 days from Honduras with the coyotes the ones that — well



you know what they did to las chicas



right there in front of us so what were we supposed



to do and the trains the trains how can I tell you hermana hundreds



of us like chickens like gophers in cages and vegetables



rotting on trains of thousands you hear me of thousands and they slid



from the rooftops and the deserts of Arizona and Texas thirst and hunger



thirst and hunger two things thirst and hunger day after day hermana



and now here on this bus of who-knows-where we are going



hermana listen I come from Brownsville where they tied us up



and now in California but still we're not inside and still the border



lies ahead of us







I told you to speak in English even un poquito



the guard is going to think we are doing something



people are screaming outside



they want to push the bus back







Pero para dónde le damos hermana



por eso me vine



le quebraron las piernas a mi padre



las pandillas mataron a mi hijo



solo quiero que estemos juntos



tantos años hermana



separados



But where do we go hermana



that's why I came here



they broke my father's legs



gangs killed my son



I just want us to be together



so many years hermana



pulled apart







What?







Mi madre me dijo que lo más importante



es la libertad la bondad y la buenas acciones



con el prójimo



My mother told me that the most important thing



is freedom kindness and doing good



for others







What are you talking about?



I told you to be quiet







La libertad viene desde muy adentro



allí reside todo el dolor de todo el mundo



el momento en que purguemos ese dolor de nuestras entrañas



seremos libres y en ese momento tenemos que



llenarnos de todo el dolor de todos los seres



para liberarlos a ellos mismos



Freedom comes from deep inside



all the pain of the world lives there



the second we cleanse that pain from our guts



we shall be free and in that moment we have to



fill ourselves up with all the pain of all beings



to free them — all of them







The guard is coming well




now what maybe they'll take us



to another detention center we'll eat we’ll have a floor



a blanket toilets water and each other



for a while







No somos nada y venimos de la nada



pero esa nada lo es todo si la nutres de amor



por eso venceremos



We are nothing and we come from nothing



but that nothing is everything, if you feed it with love



that is why we will triumph







We are everything hermana



Because we come from everything





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Now after reading both poems here are your two tasks:



Task #1: (Answer the following three questions)



Question #1: What do the two poems have in common?



Question #2: What is different about them?



Question #3: Are they poems that offer hope about the future or are they trying to say the American Dream is false hope?





Task #2



Write your own unique poem on the American Dream. There are no guidelines other than making it at least 12 lines long. It doesn't have to rhyme or follow any particular cadence.



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Notes from me the student to the Writer:



* Assignment must be done in Times New Roman Font Size 12 with 1 inch margins all around.



*The second poem "Borderbus" by Juan Felipe Herrera has some spanish language words but just in case you don't understand the spanish words, right after in the following lines there's the English translation.





Thank you for your time .