Friday, 7 June 2013

Poetry Analysis 4: A Dream Deferred

A Dream Deferred

by Langston Hughes

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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?
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           About
This poem is a humorous take on what the author thinks happens when you forget about a dream. Because we've all wondered the same thing at one time.
           Theme
"Dreams don't fade" is the theme of the poem, because something spectacular has to happen first!
           Structure
There isnt much in the terms of structure for this poem, but it does have a rhyme scheme: a bcdbefe gh h.  It's a very odd scheme, and really isn't used in any kind of convetional poem.
           Poetic Devices
Similes are the most used devices in "A Dream Deferred", comparing what Hughes thinks happens to the dream to something that can happen to other things.

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