Study Guide to “Dreaming America”

Facts about the text ”Dreaming America”

Author: Joyce Carol Oates 
Title: Dreaming America 
Year of publication: 1975 
Genre: Poem 

Background

About the author 
Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American author who has ...

Opening a poem

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Read and re-read

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Paraphrase of ”Dreaming America” 

In this section we present a short paraphrase of the poem. This is solely 
meant as a way of helping you understand the poem, and you should not 
include a paraphrase such as this one in your paper.

First stanza (The widening of a two-lane highway) 

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Second stanza  (The linking of highways and the bulldozing of cornfields)

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Third stanza  (The pavement of fields and the building of gas stations, bill board signs and restaurants)

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Fourth stanza (The opening of a shopping mall) 

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Fifth stanza (The feeling of being lost)

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