"I love this cultured hell that tests my youth" is a quote from the poem. I think this shows how the speaker loves but hates America at the same time. I really think it means that America to the speaker is always giving him challenges and throwing things at him, and that even after all it's put him through, he's still standing strong and likes the thrill of just being in a place like America, and having to battle your way through everyday life to end up stronger. The literary device used in this quote is an oxymoron, which puts 2 words together that are supposed to mean opposite things, creating something that clashes but in a way that mostly just emphasizes, in this case, how America is a good and bad place at the same time to the speaker.
"Her vigor flows like tides into my blood". I really like this quote and how it's used in the poem because it shows that the speaker likes to takes power and control of what is supposed to make he or she weaker. And the definition for vigor is "physical strength and good health", so I think this quote means America is giving more power to the speaker and they're both really becoming apart of each other over time.
Another quote used in the poem, is "Darkly I gaze into the days ahead, / And see her might and granite wonders there." I think this means that the speaker knows his or her journey isn't over yet and that they're anticipating new challenges to be faced with but are still standing strong.
The challenges that America gives to the speaker are challenges that I think he or she prefers to take head on, opposed to what a lot of other people might do, which is something more along the lines of letting the amount of difficulty and pressure of a such a big place get to them.
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