'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

In Langston Hughes’ poem “Harlem,” he discusses the idea of unfulfilled dreams and their plausible outcomes using symbolism and imagery. He initially describes a “deferred” dream as a sun-dried raisin, depicting the dream originally as a fresh grape that now has dried up and “turned black” (Jemie 63). This idea provides Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun with its basic foundation, for it is a play about a house full of unfulfilled dreams. As the poem goes on, Hughes depicts the idea of a deferred dream as something rotten or gone bad. According to Onwuchekwa Jemie, this may be an allusion to the American Dream and its empty promises (Jemie 64).

We all go through the “dream stage”, but is it so that they are even meant to come across our minds during our slumber? Dreams are simply desires that certain people have a big hope to one day to actually experience their destinies and thoughts. Although reveries are recurrent, Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston vividly contrasts the type of dreams people have and how they accomplish them. The determination in the 1920s set off success in the African American culture leading people to look past the limit and keep going. In “Freedom’s Plow” , Hughes believes dreams are set and fulfilled through unity, but on the other side of the grass Zora Neale Hurston in her piece, “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, she perceives that dreams are asymmetrical and are not

On a different note, Harlem, a poem written by Langston Hughes, asks multiple questions about what happens to a dream that is put off. An example of this would be

In his poem, Hughes focuses on the prospect of what happens after dreams are delayed. He questions whether said dream “stinks like rotten meat, or crusts and sugars over— like a syrupy sweet,” describing how it could either spoil or age into something

“What happens to a dream deferred?” In the poem “Dream Deferred”, by Langston Hughes; the novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck; and the play A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, it talks about what dreams are like and what happens to dreams. Langston Hughes is questioning what happens to dreams that are forgotten. John Steinbeck is telling a person to strive for his/her goals and to not forget or give up on dreams. In Hansberry’s opinion, she is implying that dreams can come true if a person tries hard, even if he/

In Langston Hughes’ poem, the author gives us vivid examples of how dreams get lost in the weariness of everyday life. The author uses words like dry, fester, rot, and stink, to give us a picture of how something that was originally intended for good, could end up in defeat. Throughout the play, I was able to feel how each character seemed to have their dreams that fell apart as the story went on. I believe the central theme of the play has everything to do with the pain each character goes thru after losing control of the plans they had in mind. I will attempt to break down each character’s dream and how they each fell apart as the play went on.

What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun….-Langton Hughes. Do you think dreams are that easy to achieve? Well, that what a few characters think in this play, but, there’s one character that sticks out.

Next he uses the symbol of sugar, or sweetness. This creates the false image that all is well, almost as if this is the way it is meant to be. However, our minds still stick to the festering sore that is under the "Sweet crust." Hughes uses this image as a transition to the only statement in the poem that is not in the form of a question.

My first impression was when he says "hold fast to dreams" or in other words to not let go of dreams. Hughes wants people to keep a tight grip to their dream because dreams can become slippery and we could easily lose them if we get distracted. In other words, we must pursue our dreams through

Postponed dreams are not as satisfying: “Or crust and sugar over - / like a syrupy sweet?” (7-8). The piece is titled “Harlem” after Harlem, New York, which was a major hub for African American writers. Harlem was the place countless African American writers wanted to be. Hughes was brave enough to take risks that would lead him closer to his dream of becoming a writer.

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

Langston Hughes’ title “Dreams” most likely refers to Langston Hughes’ dream for racial equality. This dream is a primary focus for many of Hughes’ poems. Hughes is saying that life without dreams is as worthless as a bird with broken wings, for it can no longer fly. Hughes is also saying that life without dreams is as worthless as a barren field covered in snow, which yields no crops defeating the purpose of the field.

As you read further into the poem it allows you to develop a clearer understanding of what Hughes is trying to express in the poem. It is stated that the dream may "crust and sugar over… like a syrupy sweet? He is stating that by not using or putting the dream into use had formed into crust, which is that hard material that is no longer useful because it is no longer pliable. The dream forced to sit idle hardens into an unusable substance of thoughts that have separated themselves from the goals and formed idle destructive thoughts that are crusted over with despair, doubt, anger, and hatred.

The poem begins with the narrator's describing the poem as a 'dream' that ''was not at all a dream'', which already causes doubt and tension within the reader. The narrator then goes on to talk about