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,

magine America with no rules, government, or any type of structure . This is thanks to Thomas Jefferson and the founding fathers for creating , The Declaration Of Independence . Although the Jefferson and the founding fathers anticipated a better country after the creation of the Declaration Of Independence , America has not fully fulfilled these hopeful ideals. However America has come a long way since then , we still have work to do as a nation .

Compared to Langston Hughes, how are e.e. cummings’s thoughts about dreams different? Langston Hughes and e.e. cumming’s both wrote a powerful poem about dreams, although they both have the same topic they appear to be different in meaning. I believe that in Hughes poem he was addressing that dreams are what makes you who you are, however in cummings poem it seemed like dreams allow you to be who you want to be. Langston Hughes wrote the poem, Dreams, to tell the reader to hold onto your dreams, even when things in life can get hard, because without them, your life would be incomplete. e.e. cummings’s poem, Dive for Dreams, has a different approach. This piece of poetry is a way to get the reader motivated, to inspire them, and give them

The poem A Dream Deferred can be best explained as thinking of what can happen to a dream. The author, Langston Hughes, wonders what happens to a dream that is not pursued. He asks, “Does it dry up, like a raisin in the sun?” That answers the question- why did Lorraine Hansberry pick the title of her award winning novel, A Raisin in the Sun. She chose this name because of the dreams the characters in her play have. Walter Lee Younger, one of the main protagonists, has a dream to buy a spot in a liquor store as a partner by using the money he received after his father, Walter Young, died. Walter Lee goes against his mother's desires and spends all the money, instead of giving half to his sister for her schooling. The money is then stolen by his business partner (Hansberry 128). Here, we see Walter Lee’s dream being crushed just like in the poem, when the author asks, “does it explode?” (Hughes).

The short but inspirational poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes addresses what happens to aspirations that are postponed or lost. The brief, mind provoking questions posed throughout the poem allow the readers to reflect--on the effects of delaying our dreams. In addition, the questions give indications about Hughes' views on deferred dreams.

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.

Waking up miserable and daunted; there is only one way to escape. You are not allowed to leave, you are not allowed to look in her direction, you are not allowed to be happy, yet you escape with your dreams. But, what happens when that sweet urge of freedom vanishes? Do you follow it or forget about it? In his famous poem, Langston Hughes asks, “What happens to a dream deferred?” In correlation with Ethan Frome, both question the ability to be free. Through the use of imagery, symbolism, and appeals, the author agrees with Hughes’ answers.

He asks whether the dream would “dry up/ like a raisin in the sun” (ll. 2-3). In other words, he ponders if it would go away forever and never be achieved. Right after, he asks whether it would “fester like a sore” (l. 4). Many people who do not or cannot pursue their dreams think about their ideal life and resent their current status. Hughes continues thinking about what happens to dreams deferred by making the effects of living an unsatisfied life more tangible through comparisons. For instance, he asks whether the dream would rot like meat, spoil like sweets, or sag like it is holding something heavy. Finally, Hughes sets apart a final thought italicized in a new stanza when he writes, “[o]r does [the dream] explode?” (l. 11). Though not exactly a simile, it does conjure up images of something going off like a bomb. When something is ignored so long, or if an entire group of people is continuously discriminated against, it is only a matter of time before something has to

In our journey through life, we all have certain expectations of how we would like our lives to be. All of us strive to reach a certain level of self-actulization and acceptance. It could thus be said that all of us live a dream. Some of these individual dreams inevitably become the collective dream of many people. In "Harlem (A Dream Deferred)", Langston Hughes makes use of symbolism as well as powerful sensory imagery to show us the emotions that he and his people go through in their quest for freedom and equality. By using questions he builds the poem towards an exciting climax.

Hughes opens up the poem with the question, “what happens to a dream deferred?” After which he begins to answer that question in forms of other questions to help the reader think about what he is saying. He uses several similes to make figurative comparisons to deferred dreams. All of the figures of speech Hughes uses reflect a foul image. “Does it dry

Not all poems fall into the category of epic poetry or ballads. Some pieces are short and concise rather than lengthy and elegant. A shorter poem may focus more thoroughly on diction, or the author’s specific choice of words, rather than things such as rhyme scheme or meter. Langston Hughes poem “Suicide’s Note” is a perfect example of this. Because it is only twelve words long, every single word is important and chosen carefully. This poem uses many literary techniques, none more than diction, to achieve its purpose. which is to focus on the split-second decision that is suicide.

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

Langston Hughes's poem "Dream Deferred" is basically about what happens to dreams when they are put on hold. Hughes probably intended for the poem to focus on the dreams of African-American in particular. However, it is just as easy to read the poem as being about dreams in general and what happens when people postpone making them come true. What I got from the poem was that the longer you put your dreams on hold, the more the dreams will change and the less likely they will come true.