Langston Hughes Harlem

In the poem “Harlem”, Hughes expresses the overall position of African Americans during the 1900's. America, which is known as the “land of opportunity”, where dreams are suppose to come true; was not the case for African Americans during that time. Even though they we’re obviously "free," poverty, racism and other social injustices still existed; making it difficult and also impossible to actually reach those dreams—therefore, their dreams had been "deferred". In this poem Hughes really expresses the frustration of African Americans at that time, and allows me to relate buy giving me reactions of having my opportunities in life possibly robbed from me. The poem raises various questions to me like what happens to our dreams if we put them on hold? Do we give up? Do we become angry? Do we become complacent? To me, the last line is very powerful, because it indicates the fact that people can only be held down so long before they revolt, rebel or even

Thesis statement: Hughes wrote this when Jim Crow laws were still imposing an bitter segregated society in the South. There were still lynchings of innocent African Americans, there was no Civil Rights Movement, there was no Civil Rights legislation yet, and Blacks couldn't eat at lunch counters in the South. Harlem, however, was not at all like the South in terms of blatant, legal segregation. However, racism was very much in place in many places in America. Blacks were second class citizens, their children attended schools that were ill-equipped, and the dreams of Black citizens were not being realized in this period.

One main event that began the Harlem Renaissance, was the Great Depression. It was during the 1930s when the market crashed. This event left African Americans and other people of color with no jobs or money. They felt like a burden to America, they had no place to call home and no one would hire them. The idea of having the American Dream was completely hopeless due to the fact they kept getting poorer and the rich became richer. “Reflecting on the labors of generations of black men and women in the United States who have been exploited, segregated, physical and verbally abused, denied access to opportunity”, this states the effects of African Americans having a job during the Great Depression (Baker, 9). In the poem, Hughes repeats “America was never America” twice in the first stanza because he has not experienced equality or opportunities like a wealthy American. Hughes hoped for a better America for those who faced injustice.

The poem changes moods with the lines"I've seen them come dark/ out of Penn Station - / but the trains are late. / The gates are open - / Yet there're bars / at each gate." The people have not found what they expected and hoped for in Harlem. These last lines help the reader to understand the feelings that accompanied the harsh reality of Harlem. The addition of the blunt question,"What happens / to a dream deferred?" maintains this understanding: this is the"dream deferred," and this is what the people were experiencing. The question is harsh and unyielding, and its position in the poem creates a feeling of seriousness. Another Hughes poem,"Same in Blues," attempts to establish further the idea of a"dream deferred," incorporating a type of dialogue between characters to explain the components of a"dream deferred," adding an element of anger to the end. The first stanza has a woman telling her man that she has to keep moving, followed by the lines,"There's a certain / amount of traveling / in a dream deferred." This method continues through four stanzas, where peopl converse, and a new component is introduced:"a certain amount of nothing,""a certain amount of impotence." The last component the poem introduces is the most effective:"There's liable / to be confusion / in a dream deferred." The poem continues to say that"there's liable to be confusion / when a dream

The Harlem Renaissance was a time where creativity flourished throughout the African American community. At the time many African Americans were treated as second class citizens. The Harlem Renaissance acted as artistic and cultural outlet for the African-American community. The Harlem Renaissance, otherwise known as “The New Negro Movement” was an unexpected outburst of creative activity among African Americans In the poems Harlem by Langston Hughes, America by Claude McKay, and Incident by Countee Cullen all use frustration and hope as reoccurring themes to help empower the African-American population and realize the injustices they face day to day. The Harlem Renaissance was a period marked by great change and forever altered the

Right after the World War I, the majority of African Americans moved from South to the North of the United States. New economic and artistic opportunities led them to create and identify themselves in their own culture and heritage. This movement is well-known as the Harlem renaissance. It was accompanied by new lifestyle, music styles, and plenty of talented writers. This paper discusses two poems from this period: Heritage, written by Countee Cullen, and The Weary Blues, written by Langston Hughes.

In Line 1 of “Harlem”, we are introduced to what happens to a persons dreams get put on hold for some time. Hughes then asks, “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?” (2-3). A raisin at first, is a grape, moist, round and juicy. However, it has shriveled up to become this dried up raisin. This simile is perfect because a dream deferred just shrivels up in our mind; we have let too much time pass to go back to fulfill the dream. The poem continues with “Or fester like a sore-and then run?” (3-4). This simile represents the dream eating at them; constantly an irritation because it has not been obtained. Line 5 is

Rights were restricted African-Americans at this time, so this idea was relevant to the time period. The first image is seen after Hughes opens with, “What happens to a dream deferred?” (“Harlem” line 1) when he writes, “Does it dry up/Like a raisin in the sun?” (“Harlem” line 2-3). Hughes could be trying to get across the idea that if a dream sits too long without action, it may lose its vitality. Say an African-American at the time had a dream of opening up his own shop, but he had to buy the property from a discriminating white owner. If this person didn’t stand up for himself, what would happen to his dream? Would it just “dry up like a rain in the sun”? What Hughes is trying to say, is that if African-Americans don’t stand up for themselves, their dreams may turn into something withered away, dry, and lifeless. Whereas, for a white person, their dreams are fresh, juicy grapes that they can pick off at any time. This line Hughes uses helps bring an image of the lifelessness of dreams some African-Americans to readers’ minds in a negative tone, on purpose. The second image Hughes uses is, “Maybe it just sags/Like a heavy load” (“Harlem” line 9-10). In this image of a sagging heavy load, Hughes tries to reflect an image of a dream holding somebody down. This is the opposite of the cliche term of “reaching for the stars” if you have a dream. Hughes is trying to say that for some African-Americans at the time, dreams could keep some

During the 1900’s many African Americans moved from the south to the north in an event called the Great Migration. Many of the South African, Americans migrated to a place called Harlem and this is where it all started. Harlem became the training ground for blues and jazz and gave birth to a young generation of Negro Artist, who referred to themselves as the New Negro. The New Negro was the base for an epoch called the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance allowed for the materialization of the double consciousness of the Negro race as demonstrated by artists such as Langston Hughes. During the peak of the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes created poetry that was not only artistically and musically sound but also captured a blues essence giving life to a new mode of poetry as it portrayed the African American struggles with ego and society leading Langston Hughes to be one of the most influential icons of the Harlem Renaissance. One affair is for sure, Hughes consistent use of common themes allows them to be the very groundwork of the Harlem Renaissance.

An American legend that went by the name of Langston Hughes contributed to the Harlem Renaissance through his writings, and his exquisite works of poetry. Langston Hughes was born into an African American family on February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. Right after Hughes was born his parents had a poor relationship, they separated soon after, his father made his way to Mexico in order to escape the racial tension in the United States and his mother moved around the world. This led to him to be raised by his grandmother, she took care of him until he was thirteen years old. Subsequently, Hughes settled in Lincoln, Illinois with his mother and her new husband.

The Harlem Renaissance was a period in time after World War 1 where a cultural, social, and artistic expansion of African culture took place in Harlem. It introduced a new perspective on the black cultural identity in the U.S. Artists, dancers, painters, and poets forged this movement to promote an upsurge of identity and equality. Leaders or figures of this movement include writer Zora Neale Hurston. She made use of African-American dialect to create highly regarded female characters in classic literature. Langston Hughes was also a prominent figure in this movement. Hughes, as a self-supported writer, musician, journalist, and novelist, captured the musical qualities of jazz and blues and fused them into his poems. I believe the musical

In our journey through life, we all have certain expectations of how we would like our lives to be. All of us strive to reach a certain level of self-actulization and acceptance. It could thus be said that all of us live a dream. Some of these individual dreams inevitably become the collective dream of many people. In "Harlem (A Dream Deferred)", Langston Hughes makes use of symbolism as well as powerful sensory imagery to show us the emotions that he and his people go through in their quest for freedom and equality. By using questions he builds the poem towards an exciting climax.

An Explication of Langton Hughes “Harlem (Dream Deferred)” Dreams are amazing things, and we can talk about them as long as we could remember them, but are dreams nothing but dreams if there never pursued? In "Harlem," the speaker discusses the darker side of an idea. Some people work hard to accomplish their dreams while others put their dreams on hold due to various circumstances in their lives. He wonders what happens when that dream or idea are ignored or "deferred." The result is not too pretty.

Langston Hughes is an American poet known as the “Granddaddy” of the Harlem Renaissance literature. He moved around a lot with his mother until they finally settled in Cleveland, Ohio. During this time, he was introduced to poets Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman. In 1925 while working in Washington D.C. he met Vachel Lindsay who helped him promote his poetry.

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement and the enlightenment of black minds as a whole. This movement sparked the minds of many leaders such as Marcus Garvey, W.E.B Dubois, and Langston Hughes, these men would also come to be known as the earliest Civil Rights activists. While Garvey and Dubois expressed their views in speeches and rallies Hughes had a different approach and chose to articulate his thoughts and views through literature more specifically poetry. Through his poetry, Hughes became a world renown poet for such works as “Let America Be America Again”, “Harlem” and “I Too” taken from his first book “The Weary Blues.” These poems while written and inspired by the everyday struggles of being an African-American were arguably targeted at white Americans. Hughes wrote a majority of his work during the Harlem Renaissance and as a result focused on “injustice” and “change” in the hopes that society would recognize their mistake and reconcile, but in order for this to happen he would have to target the right audience.