Figurative Language In Dreams By Langston Hughes

In The Crossover written by Kwame Alexander, there are many themes that readers can find in the novel. One of the themes is that dream is very important for one to live a better life. This is also the theme in the poem Dreams written by Langston Hughes. Having one’s own dream is very important because the process of achieving the dream is more of value than the result itself.

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

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.

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 1900ís. 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 stanza.<br><br>To understand Hughes' idea of the"dream deferred," one

In Line 1 of “Harlem”, we are introduced to what happens to a persons dreams get put on hold for some time. Hughes then asks, “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?” (2-3). A raisin at first, is a grape, moist, round and juicy. However, it has shriveled up to become this dried up raisin. This simile is perfect because a dream deferred just shrivels up in our mind; we have let too much time pass to go back to fulfill the dream. The poem continues with “Or fester like a sore-and then run?” (3-4). This simile represents the dream eating at them; constantly an irritation because it has not been obtained. Line 5 is

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 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.

It gives us an example of the resentment that is growing. People are getting more inflamed emotionally, just like the wound gets worse if not treated. It draws a clear parallel between people's emotions and the images of the sore. Just as an untreated sore will not heal, but get more infected, a deferred dream will not go away, but become more intense. A wound that gets worse will eventually start to smell bad. Hughes compares this to rotten meat. "Does it stink like rotten meat?" This image creates the idea that unrealized dreams will bring out the worst in men. It also means that for some the realization of their dreams will become less attractive.

In the first line of the poem Hughes asks the question, “What happens to a dream deferred?”

In the poem shown above, titled “Dreams” by Langston Hughes, Hughes begins to discuss the value of dreaming. When we as people look at each other’s lives, we compare ours to every one else’s and forget about the fact that there are some people who would love to live ours. However, there is an alternative to comparing ourselves to other people. We can aspire to surpass their goals and what they have achieved or we can dream up our own and reach it. Otherwise, they get locked away in the back of your imaginations and are never to be seen again. As a result, no dreams made means no dreams achieved. In the poem, the author compares the death of a dream to life being a broken winged bird. Life as a broken winged bird is like having life but not

Lorraine Hansberry’s classic play, A Raisin in the Sun, culls its title from the infamous poem “Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes, and both works discuss what happens to a person when their dreams -- their hopes, their aspirations, their lives -- are endlessly put on hold. For this analysis of the dreams and character of Beneatha Younger in Raisin, I would like to pull on another dreamy poem of Langston Hughes’ entitled “Dream Boogie.” Like all the characters in the play, Beneatha has dreams that are dear to her, but their deferment does not cause them to dry up, fester, rot, crust, sag, or explode. Rather, the deferment of Bennie’s dreams expresses itself in her “dream boogie”: in her sarcastic, biting wit and her life perspective that

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

A dream is a goal in life, not just dreams experienced during sleep. Most people use their dreams as a way of setting future goals for themselves. Dreams can help to assist people in getting further in life because it becomes a personal accomplishment. Langston Hughes's poem "Dream Deferred" is speaks about what happens to dreams when they are put on hold. The poem leaves it up to the reader to decide what dream is being questioned.

It’s almost as if Hughes is trying to show that in life, most of the time you just dive right in without thinking about the consequences. But then, life turns around and bites you in the butt leaving you crying, hollering, and in shock from the “cold”. Even though it catches you off guard, frightens and shocks you, you still survive. You survive by fighting, and resisting the urge to sink. The elevator represents life as well, but in a different way. The stanza about the elevator states “I thought about my baby And I thought I would jump down” (14-15). I think that these two lines do a great job portraying that in life, a lot of times, you feel powerless and you want to just give up; however, you must remember those around you who are ruiting and depending on you. Often times, this can lead to stepping back and consciously choosing to not give up, and the main character does not give up at the end of this stanza.