I found the poem, "Harlem," by Langston Hughes to be extremely powerful, albeit short. Although this poem was written in 1951, while America was still largely segregated, I feel this poem can relate to the racial minority groups of any era. The name of this poem is after, "the New York neighborhood that became the center of the Harlem Renaissance." Harlem was a place that many African-Americans felt safe from discrimination. This poem is also applicable to any time you could ask, "what happens to a dream that will never come to fruition?".
During the 1950's time period in history, African-Americans struggled immensely to be considered equals. They had as much ambition and dreams for the future as anyone else. Unfortunately, African-Americans knew that there was little hope for their dreams to come true. They were considered second-class citizens. The author asks, "What happens to a dream deferred?" Many African-Americans did not ever dare to dream about plans, knowing that their dreams would likely, "dry up like/a raisin in the sun." There were too many obstacles in their way, for their dreams to succeed. .
This poem could relate to anyone today, who has a dream. They may just carry that dream around until it, "sags/like a heavy load," or, "does it explode," after you realize that your dream will never happen. Hughes uses many similes to describe what may happen to dreams. Dreams may, "fester like a sore," "stink like rotten meat," or "sags/like a heavy load." .
There is no metrical pattern. However, the last 3 lines each have 5 syllables, while the rest of the lines vary. The rhyme pattern is very minimal, with only 3 sets of end rhyming words. Out of the 7 sentences in the poem, 6 of them are questions. A unique thing that Hughes does, is that all of the lines end in a stressed syllable, except for line 7. He is trying to soften the poem a little bit. Line 7, for a brief moment, gives the poem a softer side by asking if the dream will, "crust and sugar over/like a syrupy sweet?".
