This poem speaks to the Black person's dreams of desegregation. It saddens me to think what it must have been like for anyone who was black to be told they are equal yet remain segregated from white society. So what does happen to a dream deferred? Whose deference? Not the Black person's. The poem through metaphors and similes tells of the pain of people whose dream has wilted. In no uncertain terms does Hughes sugarcoat any of the emotions that come along when a dream is pulled out from under a [Black] people. I can appreciate the ambiguity of the last three lines because I think it spells out two extremes of a possible outcome. Do the people sit and accept their fate and become victims or do they ban together to let the judicial system they are not going to sit and take it. Separate is not equal. I think we all know the answer to that question.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Harlem
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Yes to much of this, though don't limit the dream to desegration, though this is of course relevant; it would also be helpful to see this also as the "deferred"; "dream" of the Harlem Rennaisance, which symbolized the hope, inspiration/aspiration, of a cultural rennaisance--or, more accurately, the creation and potential establishment of a pan-African culture; see the study materials on Bb, and do a bit of research into this period. Desegration alone does not provide an identity or signify the soul of a people. You're right about the crucial contrast of the last two images/stanzas. The poem was published in 1951--what was about to "explode"?"
ReplyDeleteYou might also want to look at Hughes' "I Look at the World," and my comment on Nicole Q's blog
ReplyDeleteYou might also want to look at Hughes' "I Loot at the World," and my comment on Nicole Q's blog
ReplyDelete