Langston Hughes's Poem "a Dream Deferred"

"A Dream Deferred"

Langston Hughes's poem "A Dream Deferred" is in essence about what happen to dreams when they are put on hold. It seem as though Hughes intended for the poem to center on the dreams of Black Americans. Hughes uses a significant amount of symbolisms to convey the broken dream of racial equality.

The "dream" is a life goal created by a human as being the center to what makes the human a valuable member of society. If an individual do not have goals and aspirations then there just existing and they are stuck at a standstill in life. This poem question what happen to dreams once people let them go. Langston Hughes uses the verbal communication skillfully to convey his belief of dreams and what happen to dreams. "A Dream Deferred" contains an array of symbolic language, personification, description, and uses of similes.

Hughes uses literary devices to induce the reader to reflect upon the meaning of "A Dream Deferred", while preparing the reader for its development as the poem progresses by listing possible tales of a dream that never becomes reality. What happens to "A Dream Deferred?" Is the question asked at the beginning of the poem? Hughes answers the question by asking the question "does it dry up like a raisin in the sun." This symbol means that a dream that is decayed and dying like a raisin left out in the sun. If a raisin is left out in the sun too long it will inevitably die. Similarly, a dream that continues to be delayed will go through an evolution and won't be the same as the original. The comparison of the dream to the withered like a raisin shows how a dream that is postponed changes significantly and will not turn out as the person initially intended. Then Hughes states if the dream does not dry up, maybe it will "fester like a sore and then run." Therefore, if you have a sore you will allow