The poem
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?
Dream Deferred is an eleven-line poem built almost entirely from questions. It asks what happens to a hope that is put off rather than fulfilled. Each possible answer comes as an image: a dried fruit, an infected sore, spoiled meat, crusted syrup, a heavy load. The images grow harsher as they go, moving from quiet decay toward pain, disgust and weight.
The last line breaks the pattern and asks whether the dream will explode. The poem never answers its own questions. It also never says whose dream it is. That openness lets readers apply it to one person's ambitions or to the hopes of a whole people held back.
The poem opens with a single question on a line of its own. The speaker asks what happens to a dream deferred. A deferred dream is one that has been postponed. Everything that follows offers possible answers to this question.
The second stanza gives the first answer, also phrased as a question. Perhaps the dream dries up. It would then be "Like a raisin in the sun".
The third stanza offers another possibility. The dream might "fester like a sore". Then, the speaker asks, it might "run". The stanza is only two short lines.
The fourth stanza is the longest, at three lines. It asks whether the dream stinks "like rotten meat". It then asks whether the dream might instead "crust and sugar over". In that case it would be "like a syrupy sweet".
The fifth stanza changes its grammar. It is a statement, not a question, and it opens with "Maybe". The speaker suggests the dream "just sags" like a heavy load.
The final stanza is a single line, set apart like the first. It asks, "Or does it explode?" The poem ends there, on a question it does not answer.
The central idea is what delay does to hope. The poem does not ask whether the dream will come true. It asks only what the waiting will do to it. Every answer describes some kind of damage. In this poem, a deferred dream does not stay whole while it waits.
Most of the images come from food and the body. A raisin, a sore, rotten meat and a syrupy sweet all show something going bad over time. They appeal to sight, smell and touch. The dream is treated as something perishable, like fruit or flesh. That makes its loss physical rather than abstract.
The images can be read as a rising scale. Drying up is quiet and private. Festering and running add pain. A stink adds disgust that others can notice. The sag of line 9 adds weight, and the last line turns to violence. Read this way, the poem suggests that postponed hope builds pressure until it bursts.
The poem never names the dreamer or a place. The dream is referred to only as "it". This leaves the dream open to many owners. Readers have taken it as one person's ambition or as a people's hope for equal rights. The text supports both, because it describes only the dream and what happens to it.
The final verb is also open. An explosion can mean destruction or a sudden release of stored force. The poem does not say which. It also does not say who or what would be harmed. That silence is part of the threat.
The tone is questioning but not neutral. The first line sounds calm, almost like a riddle or a prompt for discussion. The images that follow grow harsher, from a raisin to rotten meat. The speaker lingers on unpleasant detail rather than softening it.
The one statement, "Maybe it just sags", is quieter and sounds weary. The word "just" makes sagging seem the mildest outcome, as if it were the best that could be hoped for. Then the last line turns sharp. "Or does it explode?" is short and blunt after the heavier lines before it.
Its separation on the page gives it the force of a warning. The speaker keeps asking rather than asserting. That restraint can be read as controlled anger. The questions leave the reader to supply the answer.
The poem has 11 lines in 6 stanzas. The stanza lengths are 1, 2, 2, 3, 2 and 1, so a single line opens and a single line closes it. Lines run from 3 to 8 syllables.
There is no regular metre. Line 1 moves in a rough iambic beat of four stresses. Line 6 has a heavier, falling rhythm. Neither pattern holds for long.
Rhyme is irregular but frequent. "sun" rhymes with "run", "meat" with "sweet", and "load" with "explode". Line 1 and several middle lines stay unrhymed. The last rhyme ties the sag of line 10 to the explosion in line 11.
Every stanza but the fifth is a question. The fifth, lines 9–10, is the only statement. Dashes at the ends of line 4 and line 7 hold a pause before a second possibility.
What happens to a dream deferred?The opening question frames the whole poem. Every later image is a possible answer, so the poem becomes a list of outcomes rather than a story.
Like a raisin in the sunA grape left in the sun shrivels into something smaller and harder. The dream is pictured as losing its juice and life while it waits.
fester like a soreThe comparison turns the dream into a wound that becomes infected. Delay is shown as something that hurts and gets worse, not something neutral.
stink like rotten meatThe image appeals to smell, the most disgusting sense in the poem. Unlike drying up, a stink is noticed by others, so the decay becomes public.
Or crust and sugar over"Or" also opens line 4 and line 11. The repeated word lays the possibilities side by side, like options on a list, and leads to the last and worst one.
syrupy sweetThe repeated s sound is smooth and soft. It suits an image of a surface that looks pleasant while the dream hardens underneath.
like a heavy loadThe dream becomes a burden that must be carried. The image shifts from decay to weight, and prepares the pressure that the final line releases.
Or does it explode?This is the only image without "like". The dream is not compared to an explosive, it is imagined as exploding itself. The missing comparison makes the line more direct.
explodeThe word rhymes with "load" in line 10. The rhyme links carrying a weight to its sudden release, and gives the ending a hard, final click.
Or does it explode?Like line 1, the last line stands as its own stanza. The white space around it slows the reader down and gives the question extra weight.
Keep reading
Readers
This poem is increddiable ,I used this poem in a contest and won
A dream that is postponed or delayed...blacks during this time had a dream of having civil equality and equal rights... if that dream was put aside for a time... will dry up like a raisin, stink like rotten meat, etc...which mean will it be forgotten or never brought up again... that is what he's asking in his poem
The Harlem poem (also known as "A Dream Deferred") by Langston Hughes, published in 1951 as part of Montage of a Dream Deferred, an extended poem cycle about Harlem life. The 11-line poem speculates about the consequences of white society's withholding of equal opportunity, and concludes by suggesting that a dream deferred may explode.
I loved this poem so much this the only poem I like.
This poem is one of the most touching ones I have ever read, and I´m going to use it in my homework. I think this poem represents all those dreams that couldn´t come true because of the people dreaming them. It shouts to you: Make your dreams come true, before it´s to late!
Langston Hughes was referring to Martin Luther King Jr.s "Dream" of equality and opportunities for African Americans in the U.S. His references to drying up-mean to be forgotten, to fester is to get infected like a sore shows pain, and stink like rotton meat refers to decay. His reference to sagging is the weight that bears down on black souls and the explode refers to violence if equality is not obtained soon! Graet poem!
The migration of African-Americans from the South to the North during the 1950's and other times led to the realization that the dream could not always be achieved due to economic conditions and racism in the North.
this poem is one of the most touching poems i ever read
My teacher recommanded us to read this poem. I like it very much.But I feel a little bit sad after reading. Is it a sad poem?
this is a very nice poem, I'm a college student and I took africian american history at ddc. my instructor said this was one of his favorite poems and I certainly agree. It's a strong poem and it's a poem that makes you think.
You all have a great view on this poem, however, since I love it so much I feel the need to correct you. The true title of the poem is "Harlem." Although it is a common mistake to call it, "A Dream Deferred," as it is from the extended poem made up of many small poems called, "Montage of a Dream Deferred." However, he wanted this actual short poem to be called, "Harlem." Many people make this mistake.
What really does happen to a dream deferred? I think it becomes a fantasy, as the longer you put it off, the longer it takes to realize. Follow your dreams..they are the guideposts of your earthy mission!!
probably the most popular work of Mr. Hughes
I think that this poem just goes to show the absolute genius of Langston Hughes as a poet. A poet of the caliber of Hughes can write a poem that can have a myriad of meanings and have one meaning at the same time. This poem is like that. I think this poem speaks of the effects that unrealized dreams have on individuals. For some, those dreams just linger at the inmost parts of who we are. For a few others, those dreams explode and take on whole new meanings and they morph into something more powerful and influential.
Langston Hughes' poem Dream Deferred is one which I have chosen to use in my 7th grade English classes as part of a unit of poetry. I enjoy showing students different types of poems, as well as poems of different moods. Dream Deferred is one which I hope will inspire some of my students to attempt goals instead of abandoning them. I asked them the question today in class, "Which is worse? To try and fail, or to never try at all?" Unfortunately, many students said that to try and then fail was more upsetting to them than to never have tried at all. Oh, how I wish they would not defer their dreams!
It is very good and shows a lot of meaning
Langston uses rhetorical questions and similes to show that if we do not realize our dreams doubt will comsume us and a sprial of despair will start.
I first read this poem while a freshman in college at Grambling State University. It was during the LA riots and I always thought Langton expressed the actions after the Rodney King verdict better than any newscast or debate. Ultimately, a dream deferred will explode.
The word "explodes" is very powerful... I wonder what Hughes meant. On the most personal intimate level, the explosion of the mind, the torment of the individual soul, the burst of beautiful creativity arising from frustrated dreams... Or are we, today, seeing rotten decay of the social structure, the shrivelled souls of honest, hardworking, people working toward an end that seems to promise futility, or does it explode by the burst of energy that promises only wonderful and beautiful outcomes from all the surpressed longings? Such a beautiful poem, this is, that even I, a non-black immigrant, can appreciate its intimate largess.
this is a very weird but nicely written poem!
I wonder if the film A Raisin in the Sun took its title from this brilliant poem?
Well, I have to memorize this poem in my Writing and Communications class my Senior year, and I am glad I did. This is such a rich and well developed poem, describing various outcomes of a dream deferred, raising in severty each time until ultimatly, the worst outcome arises. This poem originally was intented to convey the angry and fustration of Harlem in the 1910's to the 1940's. Still as brillant today as it was 50 years ago, this poem is can be desribed in one word: Timeless.
I first read this poem in my Comp. 2 class.As a disabled white woman I felt empathy afterwards.
This is a great poem by langston hughes. In just a few lines he was able to convey black opression ( a.k.a the dream) into a metaphor that carried a significant (and sometimes controversial)meaning. Well done.
I feel that the usage of similies to portray the postponed dreams, goals, and desires of the mass population is brilliant. The usage of the the metaphor in the poem's climactic moment is just as ingenious of Hughes. The representation of the black population's frustration, and their imanent explosion is well fitting. These explosions can easily be represented with race riots that so often occured during the times where the Jim Crow Laws were rampid in the United States.
This poem has played a major part in my life. I've used time after time for projects and papers. Its just so real. If we don't follow our dreams then what is the point of having them?
Great similie and deep feelings!! Though this is an assignment I need tp work on, there's no pressure. I felt relieved instead. Reading such an inspiring poem gave me strength again. As a big fan of Martin Luther King Jr., I love the indication and the spirit of this"Dream Deffered".
AS A POET AND WRITTER I FIND MY MUSE WITHIN LANSTON HUGHES POETRY AND WRITTINGS. I FEEL THE STRUGGLE AND WITNESS THE INDIFFERENCE WITHIN OUR SOCIAL AND POLITICAL STRUCTURE. IT ALLOWS ME TO PLANT MY SEEDS OF WITNESS AND HOPEFULLY IGNITE ANOTHERS FIRE AND SENSE OF RESPONSIBLITY TO MY PEOPLE FIRST, AND SECONDLY TO JOIN ONCE AGAIN A GROUP OF PEOPLE WILLING TO PICK UP THE STRUGGLE AND PROCEED FORWARD UNTIL WE CAN TRUELY CALL THIS OUR COUNTRY
that is a great poem. if n/e body has poems or knows of n/e like this one e-mail me it please. and thank you in advance
this story was ok..
I think the poem was good
what shawn dennis said. if you dont care about a dream whats the point of dreaming them. i think that poem is great and it plays in our everday lives. i know it does in mine.
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this poem is great i loved it. it is an insprational poem for all and this sounds really cheesey so i'll stop typing right about now.
I don't know if we can write rebutals to poems on here or not but I just wanted to ask everyone what they thought. So here it goes:
*****Alone*****
What happens to someone left alone?
Do they try to make it on their own?
Or do they give up and think its no use?
Do they dry up like clothes put out on the line?
Or continue to grow like grapes on a vine?
Maybe, just maybe, they take the time to see what they can really be.
Or do they just decide to run forever?
Be honest people...What do you think? I can handle the truth!
this is a very well written poem
this is a magnificent poem...really touches the heart, know what i mean? but yeah...email me if there are anymore as awesome as this one
el lituratura es muy buen. me gusta la definition estrecho.
I like explosions! I think at the end you should put that it does explode!!!!!!!!! YEEEEAAAAHHHH!
this poem really touches the heart
Yes, This actually is a really great poem although the corect name is 'Harlem' Not Dream Deferred.
according to me, the poem is the product of profound introspection of probabilities or rather anticipations. Langston perhaps is trying to ask, does the long awaited dream dry up and becomes futile or does it keep on bleeding blood and pus like a festering sore whose pain reminds one of the unfulfilled dream. Maybe, it exacerbates and disgusts people like a rotten meat or it ends by superficial sympathy but no result just like the syrup crusts superficially over the sweets. and lastly, maybe it gets tired and frustrated and buries itself like a heavy load or maybe, it results in an explosion which fetches the fruits of that dream.
I think that this is my favorite of all of his works. It makes you think and uses great metaphors and similies.
I think it is the best poem I have ever read Dream Deferred is one of I read at my school black history and it is a great.
I think Bibi hit the nail on the head with it explodes
i love the poem about dream deferred.is fantastic and sensitive
It is a nice poem. it is a metaphorical kind of a poem which encorages readers to read with open mind.
I loved this poem ever since i first came across it, loved it to much i didn't know why.... i guess i just knew deep in myself that one day i'll be wondering these same thoughts on and on, day and night like i am now.... the answer is yet to come.... maybe when it does i'll just add it to the poem and publish it again.lol
This is a very short and easy to read.
dream deferred by Langston Hughes
parpharaze and them this poem
poop
i like being a disabled black women, almost as much as i like this poem.