Dream Deferred (Harlem) Intro/Summary Hughes asks very important question about dreams Saw dreams of many Harlem residents crumble after WWII Compares dreams to concrete things in our life Speaker asks what happens if dreams are postponed/put on hold. Offers some possible answers to question.
Literary Devices Symbols: Dreams’ Importance and violent negative consequences Similes: Many examples. Can you find them? Imagery: Numerous examples. Can you find them? Metaphor: Find the line…
Meter Six questions + one very meek declarative sentence Poem built of questions. Questions makes us think of uncertainty + quest for knowledge. Consists of eleven lines broken into four stanzas. First + last stanzas contain one line, while the other two contain seven + two lines. Each line, our speaker mixes it up. Some lines are short, others longer. Some lines contain only monosyllabic words, other are chock full of syllables. There are three instances of rhyming, while the rest of the poem is rhymeless.
Speaker To watch a great mind reflect on something as seemingly commonplace as a dream is a big deal. Coolest thing is that he does not feel need to use big, clumsy, academic words. Does not feel the need to intimidate with his knowledge. Merely puts a simple question to his students, because he's more interested in hearing what they have to say than he is in filling the room with his own ideas. We know that something very important is taking place, and we know this is a class we will have a hard time forgetting.
Themes: Dreams 1. Dreams come in all shapes and sizes. What kind of dreams do you think our speaker is thinking about? 2. What does it mean to defer a dream? 3. Our speaker offers several possible answers to his first question. Which of these answers do you think he believes in most? 4. Why does our speaker choose the word "deferred" over words like "ignored," "postponed," or "forgotten?"
Themes: Transience Dreams grow, transform, and change their shape, whether we want them to or not. The speaker in "Harlem" wonders how dreams might change if they are ignored. 1. According to our speaker, how can dreams change? 2. When it comes to dreams, is change a good thing? 3. Are dreams everlasting?
Themes: Choices Speaker presents us with several juicy philosophical questions about dreams. Examples: Are dreams meant to be thought about or acted upon? Is it a bad thing never to pursue a dream? What happens when someone else prevents you from pursuing your dreams? Our speaker suggests that sometimes we don't have any choice but to defer our dreams, which is quite a tragedy. Questions About Choices 1. Is our speaker thinking about people who defer their own dreams or people who delay the dreams of others? 2. Is it more of a choice to act on dreams or to defer dreams? 3. Of the four similes in this poem, which ones involve choice and free will?
Homework Questions 1.In your experience, what happens to a dream deferred? 2. Why do you think Langston Hughes structured this poem in the way he did? 3. Why do you think Lorraine Hansberry took the title of her play A Raisin in the Sun from this poem? 4. Why does our speaker answer questions with questions? 5. Hughes was influenced by the poets Walt Whitman, Carl Sandburg, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and Claude McKay. Can you detect these influences in this poem or in other poems written by Hughes? 6. Do you hear music in this poem?