An Indepth Look at "Harlem"

Growing up I have always heard of Langston Hughes and his “Dream Deferred” poem, but I never knew the title and took a passive jab at the meaning. I was shocked to see that once I decided to pick the “Harlem” poem for this assignment that it was the same famous poem I’ve heard my whole life. Before I knew the real name I took this poem as a bittersweet testament to the reader that dreams are what you make of them, and that the word deferred meant neglected or forgotten. In that context I felt that the author was just feeling blue about some of the choices he’s made in his life concerning his own dreams. Naturally with the new development, that the poem is actually titled “Harlem” my mind explored many other options.

Harlem is the birthplace of a renaissance of poetry, music, literature, and art in the black community. I believe the famous “Harlem Renaissance” sparked Langston Hughes’ inspiration in this poem. Furthermore, I discovered through my experience with learning about college loans that the word deferred definitely doesn’t mean forgotten but to “put off to a later time, or postpone.” The combination of these factors brings me to the realization that Mr. Hughes may have been writing about the postponed dreams of the oppressed black person from as far back as the slave trade up to his time which was during the civil rights movement. This makes the opening line “What happens to a dream deferred?” mean more.

As Langston Hughes delves deeper into the lines of the poem he begins to use contrasting metaphorical expressions to describe what he believes are the extremes by which the postponed dreams may have been fated. I believe the line “does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?” is asking whether or not the dream goes from a fresh state as a grape and become something new and different due to sitting for a while like a dry raisin which was once a juicy grape. The treat is still sweet but the texture and taste is different. He may even been asking...