Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn
University
Harlem
(1951)
Langston Hughes
(February 1, 1902 – May 22,
1967)
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What happens to a dream deferred?
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Does it dry up
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like a raisin in the sun?
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Or fester like a sore--
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And then run?
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5
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Does it stink like rotten meat?
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Or crust and sugar over--
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like a syrupy sweet?
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Maybe it just sags
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like a heavy load.
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10
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Or does it explode?
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| Discussion |
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Verbs:
how they progress throughout the poem, their movement, their
speed, and how they inform the meaning of the poem as a whole.
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Dreams:
What do dreams mean? How does Hughes portray dreams in the poem?
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Questions:
What is the effect of questions in the poem?
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The
Missing Simile: The second and third stanzas are a series of
similes. The fourth and final stanza consists of one line and one
last question, but the simile is not completed. If you were to
continue the pattern of the previous stanzas, what would the
missing simile be here? Why?
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The
Metaphor: Since there is no next line completing the simile for
line 11, it breaks the simile pattern previously established.
Without "like," the comparison becomes a metaphor. What
effect does this shift have on the poem?
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updated July 29, 2009