Dream Variations By Langston Hughes Summary

This paper examines the perspective of Langston Hughes and how his style of writing is. It looks at how several interrelated themes run through the poetry of Langston Hughes, all of which have to do with being black in America and surviving in spite of immense difficulties. Langston Hughes is one of the most influential writers because his style of work not only captured the situation of African Americans; it also grabbed the attention of other races with the use of literary elements and other stylistic qualities. Langston Hughes became well known for his way of interpreting music into his work of writing, which readers love and enjoy today.

The upper-class blacks shunned the lower class viewing them as being “embarrassingly vulgar” (Dickinson 323). Overcoming African-American prejudice was a major focus in most of Hughes’ writing. For example, he wrote about the joys, sorrows and hopes of the black man in America (Dickinson 321). Not all of his writings were so encouraging however. Other themes Hughes wrote about include lynchings, rapes, discrimination, and Jim Crow Laws. He commented that when he felt bad, he wrote a great deal of poetry; when he was happy, he didn’t write any (Dickinson 321).

Langston Hughes also shows us his mood throughout the poem while he is explaining his thoughts. Hughes mood would be one of anger and resentment because America is not turning out to be the land that it was promised to be, or the land that many people dream of for him. Hughes keeps this mood from the begging of the poem to the end of the poem in hopes that he will get his point across to the rest of America. His goal by writing this poem the way he did was mainly to express his ideas of how he feels America should

Langston Hughes clearly connects with a wide range of audiences through the simplicity that surrounds his poetry. The beauty of this manner in which he wrote his poetry, is that it grasp people by illustrating his narratives of the common lifestyles experienced by the current American generation. His art form expresses certain questionable ideologies of life and exposes to the audience what it takes to fully comprehend what being an American truly means. Each individual poem describes and illustrates the strength and hardships the African American community was experiencing. Through his literature art form of poetry, Hughes was able to convey the common assertions of

The article offers a unique view into Hughes’s poetry, revealing another side of Hughes’s expertise as a poet. Although she does spend a great deal of time on the discussion of the importance of Hughes’s diction to the rhythms he wanted to infuse into the aforementioned five pieces, Dickinson does more than the traditional literary analysis in order to explain Hughes’s talents as a writer. With special attention given to the five of his lesser-known works, she gives the reader an opportunity to hear the music within the lines of many pieces.

This freedom of expression offered by poetry has changed literature as a whole and affected whole communities, such as that of Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance. Langston Hughes’s upbringing in a family that valued and preserved their black culture, influenced his poetry and the way he gave a voice to the struggles and racial oppression of the black people.

Langston Hughes is an extremely successful and well known black writer who emerged from the Harlem Renaissance (“Langston Hughes” 792). He is recognized for his poetry and like many other writers from the Harlem Renaissance, lived most of his life outside of Harlem (“Langston Hughes” 792). His personal experiences and opinions inspire his writing intricately. Unlike other writers of his time, Hughes expresses his discontent with black oppression and focuses on the hardships of his people. Hughes’ heartfelt concern for his people’s struggle evokes the reader’s emotion. His appreciation for black music and culture is evident in his work as well. Langston Hughes is a complex poet whose profound works provide insight into all aspects of black

Hughes said, “I guess being colored doesn’t make me not like the same things other folk who are other races”. The choice of word he uses “being colored” instead of “being black” or “being African American”, shows that he uses terms that white people refer to black people as. The line is saying even though he is “colored” it does not make him anything that's out of the ordinary the only difference is his skin color. He does not allow this to be a barrier that would stop him from enjoying the things he likes.

Yolande Cornelia “Nikki” Giovanni Jr is an well-known African-American poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator. Today we will look at “A poem for Langston Hughes” from her collection and do a literary analysis on it. The author took the time to adopt a certain sound throughout her work. You can shape sound within a poem through accent, alliteration, assonance, consonance, internal rhyme, meter, onomatopoeia, rhyme and rhythm. She uses a combination of these sound devices used in poetry. Punctuation and form of the poem sets the timing to add emphasis or make the audience pay closer attention. Other things derive from sound such as the overall feeling. Honestly, in “A poem for Langston Hughes” her sound is serious and

2. Why do you think Langston Hughes structured this poem in the way he did?

The poem I chose to analyze the figurative language is called “Dreams” written by Langston Hughes. I chose this poem because it is an inspirational and real life theme about why you should follow and cherish dreams before it’s too late. The author uses both metaphors and personification to convey the theme of this poem. In the first stanza, the author uses the metaphor, "For if dreams die, Life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly," which means life's a journey.

In the last two lines of the poem, he states what goes on in the Negro’s head while sleeping and describes him as sleeping “like a rock or a man that’s dead.” Why does Hughes compare the way he sleeps to that of a dead man? How does Hughes know what goes on in the Negro’s head, and why does he end the poem with a disturbing description of the Negro’s sleeping state? To understand the unusual comparison and disturbing ending, we need to see how Hughes incorporates the features of blues music in the poem.

After poetry is written, published, and circulated, analysis of the poem must take place. It unveils and discusses the themes, figures of speech, word placement, and flow of the piece, and "A Dream Deferred," is no exception. In Langston Hughes's poem, A Dream Deferred, the theme is that no really knows to dreams if they are not reached, and very realistic figures of speech help convey this idea; the poem can be surprisingly related to Mr. Hughes's life through the subtitle and quotes from Langston himself.

It is true that people often dream widely and unrealistically. But some people dream about basic human rights such as dignity, freedom, liberty, equal rights, and access to education. Socio-economic and political conditions sometimes put people in dire situations where they do not have access to such fundamental human needs. For such people, achieving their dreams is especially important, as the shattering of their dreams may lead to the shattering of their lives altogether. One can think of numerous such people, but one glaring example is the case of undocumented students in the United States who dream about equal rights and access to higher education. These students struggle with a lot of problems in their lives and some of those problems are beyond their control. It is important therefore that the government and the public build mechanisms that would allow the dreams of these students come into realization.

What motivation or change did my connection with this piece of literature create in my thinking? In my relationships?