Department of English

Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University


 

Harlem

(1951)

Langston Hughes

(February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967)

 

What happens to a dream deferred? 

 
     Does it dry up 
     like a raisin in the sun? 
     Or fester like a sore-- 
     And then run?  5
     Does it stink like rotten meat? 
     Or crust and sugar over-- 
     like a syrupy sweet? 
 
     Maybe it just sags 
     like a heavy load.  10
 
     Or does it explode?

 

Discussion
  • Verbs: how they progress throughout the poem, their movement, their speed, and how they inform the meaning of the poem as a whole.

  • Dreams: What do dreams mean? How does Hughes portray dreams in the poem?

  • Questions: What is the effect of questions in the poem?

  • 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?

  • 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?

 

 

Langston Hughes

 

 


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Last updated July 29, 2009