Literary Devices In Harlem By Langston Hughes

Humans have the natural instinct to imagine and treasure goals and dreams of a promising future. It is this passionate imagination one would call dreaming. However, what happens when ones dream fails to occur when their wishes and plans of success are obstructed before they reach fulfillment, when they experience brief or even everlasting deferral? Langston Hughes’s “Harlem” creates an intelligent and intense image of one’s response to unfulfilled dreams. A “dream deferred” has the impact to highly influence ones life in either a negative or positive way. The title of the poem shows that it took place in Harlem, New York, during a time of hardship and troubles for African Americans. Their dreams and visions were often taunted and rejected by society. Langston Hughes uses several different writing techniques such as similes, metaphors, and diction to demonstrate the “dreams deferred” in “Harlem.”
Hughes opens the poem with the question, “What happens to a dream deferred”; a dream deferred virtually indicates the significance of a broken dream (line 1). Dreams motivate people to flourish and become encouraged individuals in society. Though, there are several difficulties that one may encounter that discourage one from an essential goal. Hughes was concerned about African American dreams that were unfulfilled because of dominant forces. During the …show more content…
This line is a reassessment of the entire poem. Hughes takes on a different perspective in which the rest of the poem refers to a “dream deferred”. Hughes uses the word “explode”, which suggests an extremely forceful act due to ongoing fury. The explosion suggests one’s mind ultimately exploding from internal anger. When someone feels unsatisfied with his or her dreams, it results in more dreams being ruined. Though, it may have the opposite effect and cause one to ultimately fight