American Dream, You Are Not What You Seem

This is a poem written for my American Literature class.

American Dream,
You Are Not What You Seem

Bang,
     Bang,
          Bang,
The hammers rang.

Farmers and their wives sang,
      For the new land they'd come to claim.

To England they said,
     We don't like you,
     We'll sail across the ocean blue,
     And find a place to roam off to.

They wore belts on their hats,
     Worked and worked, never sat.
          They prayed to God to lead their way,
                They were what we know as Pilgrims today.

They were Puritans,
     Bold and true.

Pious to God,
     Through and Through.

They started this country,
     For me and you.

Their American Dream?
     To start anew.

Many years had passed them by,
     When Fitzgerald stumbled by.
His generation consumed with greed,
     This was their American Dream.

But Fitzy was smart, he wanted it not,
     For he saw it was not so hot;

When sitting alone in a cold dark room,
    Waiting for your love to return to you,
          Thoughts tend to overcome you.

Why is this nightmare, such a dream?
     It seems these dreams are not dream.
          I shall write what I seem.

Gatsby derived from his own self,
     And Zelda, his love, Daisy portrayed,
          Though she was as a weed,
               And not a bouquet.

Marriage for money,
     Scandals and deceit,
          These were the flaws of their American Dream.

And just as true as I write these words,
     That dream was not worth the hurt.
          Money will only bring you down,
               Marriage without love is a King without his Crown.

And a life in this world,
     Fulfills you not,
          When you busy yourself with staying young and hot.

And so they found,
     their dream had a blot.

And now its my turn,
     To share my dream,
          Even if my dream does not seem a dream.

I want to inspire those around me,
     To see the world as I see.

I want to keep on the straight and narrow,
     Like the Puritans tried so long ago.

I wish for a love that is true,
     Nothing like the Buchanan Two.

And most of all,
     However it is dressed,
          I want to find true happiness.

I don't know how,
     Or when I'll come by it,
          But that's my goal,
               And I plan to live by it.

So my American Dream is not filled with greed,
     Or the need to be seen as a righteous thing,
          Only that I have a happy life,
                And can be a mother and wife,
                      Those are things I'll dream of at night.

My American Dream is a Simple Thing.
      A Simple Thing,
          But by all means,
                My Own Thing.

Author's Note

Not one of my best writes, I'll admit that. This is a very rough draft of it.

Critiques welcome.

The assignment was to capture the three "phases" of the American Dream.

1. The dream of the Puritans.
2. The Dream of those in the era of Great Gatsby.
3. My era, my dream, and how it differs or compares to the previous versions.

Reviews

[Ami N.]

Amazing! This piece flowed together so well and you had so many lessons packed in this wonderful write. I love how you linked our history with the present and how you built up gradually and ended it at the present day. I especially liked how you related to it all and weaved it all together in this beautiful poem.

Spectacular. I think this is the best one you've written so far!
*100*
(although I can't rate it, but honestly it deserves even more)

[Irfan Bashir Shah]

You sure inspired me!
And great blend of history in poetry. Seldom people do so.

[The Insanely Vibrant]

Amazing flow. Plus, seems you've got your history right.. :) Good job :)

[stars are far]

Nice poem :)

[paparapapa]

Wow, if I had to do that assignment, I'd be worrying about the flow of the poem, but you did a really good job connecting the three! Your rhyme scheme and your choice of words made it fun to read. And I love the message of this poem and how you ended it. Simply BRILLIANT! Good job. :)

[Summer D.]

Oh. Fail. I just noticed the description. :) Thanks for answering that anyway~

[Wren]

Wonderful:) Just perfect!! I loved the rhyming scheme and the way it all flowed together easily, which is what great poems do!

[Summer D.]

Hm.

I will be honest. The message of the poem was meant well and by assignment- I'm not exactly sure what you mean. School assignment or your own personal assignment? I am a little bit perturbed by some of the lines in the poem. As the structure and language used, is all very catchy and nicely written, I am a little bit put off by some of the meanings of the lines. More particularly with Pilgrims and " They started this country." I will be more then happy to elaborate my thoughts, through an email.

Your writing style is amazing as always and I'm always learning from it.

* 85 *

[Maddie:]]

i liked this one as well!:] lovely write, and the ending definitely added a nice touch! very well written, nice job:]

[Mashairi]

very meaningful. well done *^_^*

[The XYZ Writer]

That was really amazing. The whole thing was like a short history lesson, and yet an inspirational at the same time. The entire thing is just magnificent!!!