The question is a powerful one, and there is a sense of silence after it. Hughes then uses vivid analogies to evoke the image of a postponed dream. He imagines it drying up, festering, stinking, crusting over, or, finally, exploding. All of these images, while not outright violent, have a slightly dark tone to them.
Each image is potent enough to make the reader smell, feel, and taste these discarded dreams. According to Langston Hughes, a discarded dream does not simply vanish, rather, it undergoes an evolution, approaching a physical state of decay. The speaker does not refer to a specific dream. Rather, he or she suggests that African Americans cannot dream or aspire to great things because of the environment of oppression that surrounds them.
Even if they do dare to dream - their grand plans will fester for so long that they end up rotting or even exploding. As critic Arthur P. Davis writes, "When [Hughes] depicts the hopes, the aspirations, the frustrations, and the deep-seated discontent of the New York ghetto, he is expressing the feelings of Negroes in black ghettos throughout America.
The Question and Answer section for Langston Hughes: Poems is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. You haven't cited the piece of literature for which you require this information. Daybreak in Alabama. Dream Variations. Let America Be America Again. Mother to Son. Night Funeral in Harlem. The Ballad of the Landlord.
Theme for English B. The Negro Speaks of Rivers. The Weary Blues. LitCharts Teacher Editions. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts.
The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of every Shakespeare play. Sign Up. Hughes never married, nor was he romantically linked to any of the women in his life.
And several of Hughes' friends and traveling companions were known or believed to be gay, including Zell Ingram, Gilbert Price and Ferdinand Smith. Other biographers have refuted these claims, but because of Hughes' secrecy and the era's homophobia surrounding openly gay men, there is no concrete evidence of Hughes' sexuality. On May 22, , Hughes died from complications of prostate cancer.
A tribute to his poetry, his funeral contained little in the way of spoken eulogy but was filled with jazz and blues music. Volumes of his work continue to be published and translated throughout the world. We strive for accuracy and fairness.
If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives. Writer Countee Cullen was an iconic figure of the Harlem Renaissance, known for his poetry, fiction and plays.
Hugh Hefner created the men's adult entertainment magazine 'Playboy,' which played a role in the sexual revolution of the s. Hefner built his controversial yet groundbreaking magazine into an international enterprise. She also authored novels, essays and poems.
Ralph Ellison was a 20th century African American writer and scholar best known for his renowned, award-winning novel 'Invisible Man. Alain LeRoy Locke was a philosopher best known for his writing on and support of the Harlem Renaissance. Langston Hughes was an African American writer whose poems, columns, novels and plays made him a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance of the s.
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