"DREAM DEFERRED (HARLEM)" - LANGSTON HUGHES
88,284 views•Jun 12, 2016
TIM GRACYK
2.88K subscribers
Dream Deferred (Harlem)
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?
___________________________________
Scholars usually assume that Langston Hughes had racism in mind when he
wrote this poem that guesses at the costs of postponing human dreams or
aspirations.
The short poem even implies it's dangerous if dreams are set aside or
delayed due to racial discrimination--people might explode in anger (riots in
cities?).
But readers don't have to give it a racial interpretation. It is about ANY dreams being put off.
Today's young people have dreams or goals or activities put off due to a
pandemic, and they feel very frustrated.
The poem is about that.
The Harlem Renaissance is a name for an era that witnessed a flowering
or blossoming of the arts among African Americans. Its heyday was the 1920s and early
1930s. Scholars disagree on when exactly
it started and ended.
Grateful thanks to TIM GRACYK and YouTube and all the others who made this video possible
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