Essay On Poetic Analysis Of Harlem By Langston Hughes

One of Hughes most famous poems, “Harlem(Dream Deferred)” had a great impact by posing lots of questioning. According to critic Tom Hanson, this poem is just that simple because it gives a bunch of undesirable answers to the same question, “What happens to a dream deferred?” Hanson also says how this poem refers almost completely to an unsolved problem (Hanson, Harlem). The poem gives four rather unpleasant interrogatives and one declarative answer followed by the sixth possibility, “Or does it explode?” which is supposed to be a question to make a reader really think. There are several ways to interpret the meaning of the final line, and the most sensible explanation is, the African American community is “deferring dreams” and in doing so their dreams explode in terms of the chance to act is gone. Some may say Hughes presented an unattractive view

Langston Hughes was the leading voice of African American people in his time, speaking through his poetry to represent blacks. His Influence through his poems are seen widely not just by blacks but by those who enjoy poetry in other races and social classes. Hughes poems, Harlem, The Negro speaks of rivers, Theme for English B, and Negro are great examples of his output for the racial inequality between the blacks and whites. The relationship between whites and blacks are rooted in America's history for the good and the bad. Hughes poems bring the history at large and present them in a proud manner. The injustice that blacks face because of their history of once being in bondage is something they are constantly reminded and ridiculed for but must overcome and bring to light that the thoughts of slavery and inequality will be a lesson and something to remember for a different future where that kind of prejudice is not found so widely.

Harlem Renaissance was undoubtedly a cultural and social-political movement for the African American race. The Renaissance was many things to people, but it is best described as a cultural movement in which the high level of black artistic cultural production, demanded and received recognition. Many African American writers, musicians, poets, and leaders were able to express their creativity in many ways in response to their social condition. Until the Harlem Renaissance, poetry and literature were dominated by the white people and were all about the white culture. One writer in particular, Langston Hughes, broke through those barriers that very few African-American artists had done before this

One main event that began the Harlem Renaissance, was the Great Depression. It was during the 1930s when the market crashed. This event left African Americans and other people of color with no jobs or money. They felt like a burden to America, they had no place to call home and no one would hire them. The idea of having the American Dream was completely hopeless due to the fact they kept getting poorer and the rich became richer. “Reflecting on the labors of generations of black men and women in the United States who have been exploited, segregated, physical and verbally abused, denied access to opportunity”, this states the effects of African Americans having a job during the Great Depression (Baker, 9). In the poem, Hughes repeats “America was never America” twice in the first stanza because he has not experienced equality or opportunities like a wealthy American. Hughes hoped for a better America for those who faced injustice.

Throughout the poem, there is heavy use of metaphor for “poem”. For example, in the first stanza, “I ask them to

When reading poetry, it can often be difficult to interpret the exact meaning of the poem the author was trying to transmit. A reader must learn to construe a poem without getting confused on what the author was trying to convey. We must scrutinize the work so that we may understand it better. In Langston Hughes “Harlem,” to analyze what this poem is trying to interpret we must understand line for line. The poem has eleven lines and all but one is asking a question. In each line except line seven, the last syllable stressed. Six of the seven sentences in the poem are questions. All of the sentences except the first and the last contain similes using like. Line three rhymes with line five; line six rhymes with line eight; line ten rhymes with line eleven. Lines four, seven, and eleven begin with or. Lines three, eight, and ten begin with like. The narrator is asking these questions to have the reader envision the lurid analogies to evoke the illusion of a postponed dream. One must also uncover the hidden meanings that stated in this poem. Written in 1951, Harlem addresses one of the most common themes of the time, inadequacies of the American Dreams of African Americans.

The poetry of Langston Hughes, the poet laureate of Harlem, is an effective commentary on the condition of blacks in America during the 20th Century. Hughes places particular emphasis on Harlem, a black area in New York that became a destination of many hopeful blacks in the first half of the 1900's. In much of Hughes' poetry, a theme that runs throughout is that of a "dream deferred." The recurrence of a "dream deferred" in several Hughes poems paints a clear picture of the disappointment and dismay that blacks in America faced in Harlem. Furthermore, as each poem develops, so does the feeling behind a "dream deferred," growing more serious and even angry with each new

Hughes placed a particular emphasis on Harlem, an area in New York that was predominately Black, which became a Mecca for many hopeful blacks in the first half of the 1900's. Hughes has a theme in most of his poetry, in other words his writing style was to write poetry that is called "dream deferred". His use of a "dream deferred" focus in several poems paints a vivid picture of the disappointment and dismay that blacks in America faced in Harlem. Furthermore, as each his poems develop, so does the feeling behind a "dream deferred," his words make the reader feel the growing anger and seriousness even more at each new stanza.

Langston Hughes poem Harlem “Harlem” the theme of this poem is pursuing dreams, not letting go till it comes to the path. But nevertheless, if you pursue afterward your dreams, that doesn’t mean they are bound to come true. Many blacks didn’t have their dream come true. African American dreams were deferred, thousands of blacks believed as

The Harlem Renaissance sought to revitalize African American culture with a focus on arts and literature and creating socioeconomic opportunities (Harlem Renaissance). This temporal setting, predominantly the influence of the Harlem Renaissance, of Hughes’s life explains the purpose of Hughes’s writing: to express the oppression of African Americans and the imperfections of Hughes’s America and to heighten African American morale during his life through his writing.

One of the leaders of the Harlem renaissance, Langston Hughes, used his writing to shape American History. One of his poems, “Harlem (Dream Deferred)” asks the question, “What happens to a dream deferred?” Hughes uses Similes, Metaphors, and imagery to express a message about how postponed dreams cause destruction. “Harlem” uses imagery to draw the reader in and create an experience for all our senses. Hughes writes, “Does it stink like rotten meat?”

At first glance, the poem ''Harlem'' by Langstone Hughes appears to be just a simple poem about thwarted dreams and desires. However, this poem is much more than what it first appears to be. This simile drenched poem is actually a reflection of the constant struggles for acceptance and equality faced by African Americans, during an era when racism played a large part in the average mindset of society. The title of this poem is named after a predominantly African American neighborhood in uptown Manhattan. This neighborhood acted as a sort of sanctuary for the African American people, in a racist society. The people who lived in Harlem had far more opportunities to freely express themselves and to escape segregation. Langstone Hughes's cleaver

In “Harlem” Langston Hughes says “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore— And then run?” ( Hughes ). In the quote, Langston Hughes talks about the people in Harlem and what happens to their deferred dream. Langston Hughes lived in an era where African-American didn't have a lot of Rights, and African Americans had to delay their dreams because of racism. Hughes feels that environment he lives in won't let African Americans have dreams, by delaying it until it explodes.

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement and the enlightenment of black minds as a whole. This movement sparked the minds of many leaders such as Marcus Garvey, W.E.B Dubois, and Langston Hughes, these men would also come to be known as the earliest Civil Rights activists. While Garvey and Dubois expressed their views in speeches and rallies Hughes had a different approach and chose to articulate his thoughts and views through literature more specifically poetry. Through his poetry, Hughes became a world renown poet for such works as “Let America Be America Again”, “Harlem” and “I Too” taken from his first book “The Weary Blues.” These poems while written and inspired by the everyday struggles of being an African-American were arguably targeted at white Americans. Hughes wrote a majority of his work during the Harlem Renaissance and as a result focused on “injustice” and “change” in the hopes that society would recognize their mistake and reconcile, but in order for this to happen he would have to target the right audience.

    Most of us have dreams that we one day hope to fulfill. They could be little dreams that will take little time and effort to accomplish, or they could be big dreams that will take more time and energy to fulfill. Nevertheless, "whether one's dream is as mundane as hitting the numbers or as noble as hoping to see one's children reared properly," each dream is equally important to the person who has it (Bizot 904). Each dream is also equally painful when it is taken away; or if we never have the opportunity to make the dream a reality. In the poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes, the different emotions that people feel when a dream is "deferred" is presented through Hughes's unique