Harlem

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?


Harlem is about dreams and the outcome from them in other words the result, from the word deferred ( postponed ) he's asking what's the result with a dream that was put on hold? does the person who dreamed it forgets about ? do they still have it in them to accomplish it?.

From my point of view there are no HR themes present in this poem, and the reason for that is because this poem doesnt have anything to do with race and the HR themes are based upon different outcomes of the african american culture or the name(negro). Instead this poem has more to do with the person itself and that person's inner self. To me the theme of this poem is life and lifestyle and were life place you, everyone has dreams but this poem is saying sometimes those dreams don't come through so what happens after that?.

The poetic devices that are being used in this poem are, 1: similes and metaphors( a comparison ), and there are many places in this poem that you would see these like for example Langston says "does it dry up like a raisin in the sun". 2: symbols, the way symbols are being used is when Langston says " does it stink like rotten meat" the symbol in that is making is does the dream go away? is it still possible to accomplish?. 3: repetition ( making a point ) the point that he make's is through out the whole poem from the main question of the poem.

I chose this because it was very interesting to me, like how the way he was using similes and metaphors and the point he was making of the poem with dreams that are postponed. The thing that could've been better is the way it was written he could've put more into the poem t make it more interesting.

for the poem (www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap9/hughes.html)