"Dream Deferred" by Langston Hughes

                “Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes employs clever imagery to present a variety of different approaches to perceiving the withering away of a dream. Each simile paints a vivid illustration of the ways in which a dream can depart from a person, and I believe that each of these was intentionally crafted to represent a different manner in which a dream can be deferred. For example, I found the dream that dried up like a raisin under the intense heat of the sun to be symbolic of a person who allows their passion for a dream to deteriorate under the heated pressure of discouragement, adversity, or other hardships. On the other hand, I believe the dream that becomes crusty and sugared represents those who neglect their dreams to the extent that the dreams lose their radiance or quality. If one leaves a syrupy sweet sitting out without preserving it, it will crust over. In a similar fashion, if one exposes their dreams without taking any action to acknowledge or achieve them, the dream’s purity will also become “crusted over.” Clearly, each of the five similes in the poem utilizes powerful imagery to describe the ways in which a promising dream can become tarnished.

                However, Hughes designates one phrase in particular to be emphasized over the rest because of its relevance to the central idea of the poem. Unlike the other phrases in the poem, the line is not a simile (as was pointed out in question 1 on page 806) and is written in italics. The phrase reads, “Or does it explode” (Hughes)? As I reread the poem over and over, I came to the realization that this line’s differentiation in style and format reflected its differentiation in meaning. While the other five similes in the poem depict dreams fading away slowly or decaying gradually, the idea of a dream exploding offers a stark contrast to this concept. Instead, Hughes suggests with this image of an explosive dream that perhaps dreams do not always simply fade over time due to neglect or weakness, but rather they are often crushed or eradicated by the inability to fulfill them. In instances such as these, I presume that a dream would not merely wither away, but rather explode in a surge of disappointment and grief experienced by the dreamer himself. Knowing that Langston Hughes was an African American poet at the peak of the Civil Rights Movement is incredibly noteworthy when understanding the full meaning of this poem, for his identity as an oppressed African American is what fuels his description of the explosion. For someone such as Hughes who had incredible talent but was prevented from experiencing the full glories of his potential and ambition due to his identity, having a dream that didn’t explode, but merely festered or sagged like a heavy load, would be next to impossible. Hughes’ diction and figurative language therefore reveals the central idea of the poem. I found these similes to be very effective, for they caused me and surely many other readers to ask myself which description my own deferred dreams matched most closely.