"Harlem" is a short poem by Langston Hughes who is a known African American writer of the 1900's. Hughes poem "Harlem" inquires what happens to dreams deferred. The poem basically is asking what happens when you postpone a dream in general. While reading the selection you realize Hughes uses metaphors to exemplify how a dream can be deferred. By the poem using metaphors it gives the reader a great mental picture of what he was saying literally. Langston Hughes the author of the poem "Harlem" asks "what happens to a dream deferred?" (Hughes Line 1). .
During the time period that Hughes wrote the poem the Harlem renaissance was going on which means that Hughes was indirectly referring to African Americans of that time. Langston Hughes goes on and uses metaphors to give vivid examples on how a dream can be deferred. The first metaphorical example is "does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" (Hughes 2-3). This first metaphor shows what could happen to a dream when it is under pressure over time. With the sun being the pressure and the raisin being the person dreaming it shows that a person could just wither down when their dream is being withheld or postponed. .
The next metaphor asks does a dream deferred fester like a sore and then run (Hughes 4-5). This example shows that physical part of a dream by comparing it to a sore. By comparing a dream to a sore that festers it shows that dream deferred can be painful externally, then the sore leaks out. When the sore leaks it shows the pain running over but also at the same time it gives for the sore to heal. With the sore being the dream metaphorically he is basically that dream will not be achieved but maybe it could heal over time just like a sore. Next the author asks "does is stink like rotten meat?", everyone knows the smell of anything rotten and it is not the greatest smell. However I think Hughes was hinting towards the dreamed being ruined because the dreamer not being able to reach the dream.