'A Dream Deferred' By Langston Hughes

The only major shift that occurs in Dreams Deferred, happens on the last line of the poem. Hughes compares dreams to other things using similes. These similes are not instantaneous, they happen and worsen over time. i.e(Does it dry up/like a raisin in the sun?/Or fester like a sore). But on the last line, he compares dreams deferring to something that doesn’t need time. An

Langston Hughes was the most famous poet from Harlem, writing during the 1920’s and 1930’s. Hughes wanted to show the lives of the black community through his poems and the things they faced in America at that time like racism. He would compare the ways African American experience was different from the white Americans. At the time he was writing, slavery was over for sixty years already, but blacks were still treated unequally everyday. African Americans had a dream that was being held back from them, called a deferred dream. What is a dream deferred? Langston Hughes relates his sequence of poems, “Lenox Avenue Mural,” to this question. It is said that, “The “dream deferred” is the dream of African Americans: a dream of freedom, equality,

The second stanza, that talks about "That perches in the soul," uses the imagery of a bird to explain hope. She believes hope perches in people's souls as the hope becomes the home for hope. The subject is viewed as a metaphor as hope rests in people souls the way a bird is known to rest on its own perch. In both the third and fourth stanza the poem talks about a bird singing the tune without any words and does not stop at all. Dickinson makes use of the imagery of continuous bird's songs to depict eternal hope as the bird does not stop singing the hope song. The fifth stanza, which states "And sweetest in the gale is heard", explains the song of hope by the bird as sweetest to the wind (Dickinson & Vendler

Langston Hughes uses a unique style, language, and diction to portray his point about dreams. “Does it dry up, like a raisin in the sun?”(2-3) This symbolizes a hardening, from a grape to a raisin. If a dream is destroyed it hardens the heart. It becomes useless just the like the dried up raisin. Hughes also suggests that maybe unrealized dreams are a "heavy load" which symbolizes a burden, something to heavy to bear, something that weighs a person down always. This poem is like the American Dream, if you do not pursue your dream right away it may slip away from you and eventually it will be gone. The American Dream can be fulfilled through hard word work and passion, it will not come easy. Everyone has the opportunity to grasp the chance to become successful through dreams and goals. Langston Hughes realized the importance of dreams and having those dreams torn apart. His poem, "Dream Deferred", uses strong images to create a picture of a negative and destructive outcome for a dreamer left unable to dream. “Nothing can stop a man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude”, Thomas Jefferson.

During the Harlem Renaissance, many African Americans were giving up on their dreams of equality due to rejection. However, Langston Hughes poem A Dream Deferred questions what happens to a dream that is deferred. In the poem, Hughes expresses his anxiety over his deferred dreams. The poet mentions how his dreams perished in six theoretical ways, all which are harmful to the dreamer. Langston Hughes used figurative language to explain how a neglected dream affects the

“Harlem [Dream Deferred]” by Langston Hughes may seem like an insignificant poem at first glance. It contains only 11 lines and the diction is simple enough, but it is much more profound upon further exploration and understanding. Hughes applies the theme of frustration and use of metaphor, simile, and imagery to express the important issues of this time. The community of Harlem was primarily black, and this poem articulates the struggle of these people during the Civil Rights Movement. People of this time were left with injustice and their dreams were very much deferred.

"Harlem" by Langston Hughes uses similes in everyday life to make sense of what can happen to a deferred dream. There are many different possible outcomes.

First of all, it’s a poem. With a lot of questions. Its central question, however, is "what happens to a dream deferred?" meaning basically "what happens when your dreams don’t come true?" only Hughes’s version sounds better. He poses a couple of graphic suggestions: do the dreams dry, fester, run, stink, crust, sugar, sag, or explode? If we make like kindergarteners and play a little game of, "what doesn’t belong," the word explode fits the bill. While the other verbs deal with decay, waste, or extinction, explode is considerably more active, more powerful. No wonder Hughes chose to use it

“Dream Deferred,” is a poem written by Langston Hughes discussing what may become of a dream that is put off, delayed, or postponed by external influences. Throughout the poem, Hughes uses questions about concrete things in everyday life and compares them to the ignored dreams. Langston Hughes isn’t referring to the dreams we have when we go to sleep at night, he’s referring to an aspiration or a desire.

Are dreams alive? Within the thought-provoking and inciteful poems, “Dreams” and “Dream Deferred” Langston Hughes uses repetitions, binaries, and strands to bring alive the human subconscious that is often overlooked in daily life. Although the poems attempt to impart wisdom concerning subconscious decision making, the fundamental message is about the importance of seeing the silver lining and seizing opportunities before they become a regret.

Although in this poem the speaker speaks about what happens to when a dream is abandoned there is a deeper meaning. The title “Harlem: A Dream Deferred” gives one a sense that this poem would be black people who had come to Harlem. By the title one can assume that by the word deferred these African Americans coming into Harlem had challenges. These challenges had then led them to postpone their dreams. Langston Hughes writes this poem in the time period when black people were considered inferior and their dreams were more

Dreams are hopes that people hope to accomplish in their lifetime. When trying to achieve these goals, people are willing to do anything. But, what happens when a dream is deferred? A dream pushed aside can disappoint a person in the deepest way. It is likely to spread throughout their thoughts and becomes a burden. In the poem “Harlem,” Langston Hughes, through literary devices, introduce a strong theme through a short amount of language Hughes is asking what happens to a dream that is being put off.

The meaning of, "A Dream Deferred," is that no one really knows what happens to dreams that are not fulfilled. The poem starts with the line, "What happens to a dream deferred?" and this plainly asks what happens to dreams that have not been paid attention to. The next line in the poem is, "Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun or fester like a sore and then run?" meaning does a dream simply wither away until it is no longer prevalent, or does it sit and stew until it becomes unbearable enough that it is fulfilled out of convenience. The following stanza is, "Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over like a syrupy sweet." This means that dreams could possibly be attainable, but people put them on the figurative back burner making them "rot" and "smell" like a constant reminder. A scholarly review written by Marie Rose Napierkowski proves my point by saying, "With the smell of rotten meat, Hughes suggests that dreams deferred will pester one

Dickinson and Whitman also use similar poetic devices in "Hope is a Thing with Feathers” and “O Captain! My Captain!” Each poem contains an extended metaphor. In Dickinson’s poem, a bird clearly symbolizes hope. The first stanza introduces the bird metaphor: ‘Hope is the thing with feathers--/That perches in the soul.’ The next lines ‘And sings the tune without the words--/And never stops—at all—’ illustrate the interminable nature of the bird and hope. The second stanza expands the metaphor by saying ‘And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—.’ The bird’s song, or hope, is the sweetest during a Gale, or troubled times. The first lines in the final stanza ‘I’ve heard it in the chillest land--/ And on the strangest Sea’ describe the bird, or hope, as being

In “Hope is the thing with feathers” the author characterizes hope as being caring and always being there when it's needed, which helps develop the theme of hope and perseverance. The following line, “And never stops at all”, helps characterize the bird in the poem as persevering. This piece of evidence shows that hope will always be there which characterization of caring. The line “That perches in soul”, gives the characterization of perseverance. This line is portraying the idea of hope always being with you, hence the line perching within you, or in your soul. The line “And sour must be the storm that could abash the little bird” characterizes hope as persevering. The line illustrates the bird as always being there even when times are tough. Even when one might think that there is no hope, hope will always be there. The quote “Yet never in extremity it asked a crumb-of me” characterize hope as being giving.The line shows how hope will never ask for anything in return and instead gives without expecting anything in return.