Similes In Harlem By Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes was an American poet and activist that is most known for his involvement during the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes used his writing to shine a light on the lives of African Americans in the 1920’s. Through his poetry, Hughes was a leading voice during the Renaissance. ‘Harlem’ is one of Langston Hughes’ most well-known poems. It tells of the Black dream in America and how it has been deterred and limited. The use of literary devices, such as similes and metaphors allow the reader to understand the length the dreamers are being affected. Hughes believed that just like the objects listed in the poem have been left to dry up in the sun so has Harlem and the American Dream for African Americans.

Hughes was born in the year 1902, in

Although America as a whole is recovering from the difficulties it had been facing, the Blacks were still fighting a war of their own. The opening line of the poem sets the stage by having the reader trying to depict what happens to a “dream deferred”(Hughes 1) In this poem a “dream” refers to the Black person’s dream for equality and prosperity in America. The Writing is a series of similes accompanied by metaphors and figurative language used to describe what happens when a dream is put on hold, what time can do to it and an underlying reference to the condition that Harlem had been left in. Although the poem begins with a question, Hughes does not give clear and concise answers but instead presents sub-question that allow the reader to extend and find their own understanding. The first simile presented, “ Does it dry up/like a raisin in the sun?”(2-3) compares the original dream of Blacks to what was once a grape, a fruit that possessed moisture and moisture, that had been left in the sun to lose its positive attributes. Hughes then follows with another simile that exudes the way an unfulfilled dream begins to grow and weigh down the body, “Or fester like a sore/And then run?”(4-5) the speaker suggests that a postponed dream is like an injury that soon becomes infected. The next question presented is, “Does it stink like