Langston Hughes's "Harlem: A Dream Deferred"
Hughes uses a lot of figurative language and imagery to express his thoughts about deferring a dream. As said in his poem, once a dream is put off, it is like "a raisin in the sun", "a festered sore", "stink like rotten meat", and the such. The meanings behind these similes are simple; putting off a dream will lead you to nowhere. Hughes is comparing dreams to negative objects saying that if you do not follow your dream, it will shrivel away like a raisin in the sun or be infected requiring more time to heal. More on, your dreams will fade away if you do not realize its importance in time or it will crust over to a hard shell of difficulty if it is left untouched.
I chose this image because it symbolizes the same meaning that a dream will seem so far away if people do not prioritize the importance of their dreams and let it shatter instead. The faded colors also blends with the poem because dreams will slowly fade away the more an individual gives up on it. In the last line, Hughes uses the metaphor "Or does it explode?" implying that if we all do not keep up with our dreams, it will explode and destruct our lives. In the picture above, the bottom has chains and the colors are more dark saying that a person can be trapped into the darkness and destroy his or her life.
Hughes uses many rhetorical questions in the poem but does not answer them. This is a good method to allow readers to analyze the message he is trying to portray. In this case, Hughes is trying to warn people that if they do not treasure their dreams, their future may not come out to be as desired. It takes effort to reach your dreams and nobody should ever give up on a dream.
I chose this image because it symbolizes the same meaning that a dream will seem so far away if people do not prioritize the importance of their dreams and let it shatter instead. The faded colors also blends with the poem because dreams will slowly fade away the more an individual gives up on it. In the last line, Hughes uses the metaphor "Or does it explode?" implying that if we all do not keep up with our dreams, it will explode and destruct our lives. In the picture above, the bottom has chains and the colors are more dark saying that a person can be trapped into the darkness and destroy his or her life.
Hughes uses many rhetorical questions in the poem but does not answer them. This is a good method to allow readers to analyze the message he is trying to portray. In this case, Hughes is trying to warn people that if they do not treasure their dreams, their future may not come out to be as desired. It takes effort to reach your dreams and nobody should ever give up on a dream.
No comments:
Post a Comment