1. Analysis of Langston Hughes “A Dream Deferred”
Poetry
Analysis of Langston Hughes
“A Dream Deferred”

2. What are the Elements of poetry?
Speaker: the voice of the poem
Subject: what the poem is about
Audience: the person the speaker is talking to
Tone: the way the speaker feels about the subject
Theme: the underlaying message of the poem
Stanza: a group of lines (like paragraphs)
Rhyme scheme: a regular pattern of rhyming in the poem

3. What devices do poets use?
Imagery: descriptive writing that appeals to the senses
Symbolism: any object that represents or stands for something else
Repetition: the repeating of words, lines, or phrases
Simile: a comparison of two unlike things using like or as
Metaphor: a comparison of two unlike things without using like or as
Personification: the giving of human qualities or traits to inanimate objects

4. What devices do poets use?
Alliteration: the repetition of initial consonant sounds
Onomatopoeia: words that represent sounds
Hyperbole: a deliberate exaggeration
Irony: the difference between what is expected, and what actually happens

5. A Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
Like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

6. A Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes
Tone:
Questioning, judgmental, warning
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
Like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Speaker:
Someone who is bitter about having his dreams put off
Audience:
Society

7. A Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes
Subject:
A series of rhetorical questions about living with disappointment
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
Like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Themes:
Having to postpone one’s deepest desires can lead to destruction or destructive behavior

8. A Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes
Paraphrase:
What happens to your dreams when they are put off?
Do they shrivel and die, or just eat away at you and make you sick?
Do they rot away, or do you try to cover up the loss of your dreams by convincing yourself “it’s not so bad”?
Or maybe the burden of your unrealized dreams drag you down like an unbearable load.
Or do they build up until you can’t take it anymore?
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
Like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

9. A Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes
alliteration:
“dream deferred”
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
Like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
similes:
“dry up like a rasin in the sun”
“fester like a sore-”
“stink like rotten meat”
Sugar over-Like a syrupy sweet?”
“sag like a heavy load”
imagery:
“raisin in the sun”
“fester like a sore”
“stink like rotten meat”
“heavy load”
“explode”

10. A Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes
repetition:
“does it”
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
Like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Rhyme scheme:
“sun-run”
“meat-sweet”
“load-explode”
metaphor:
“does it explode?”