What Is The Mood Of The Poem Harlem By Langston Hughes

The two poems by Langston Hughes, “Harlem” and “Dreams”, are both talking about what happens when ambitions are forgotten about and not realized. In the poem “Harlem” the rhyme scheme is ABCDCEFEGHI, which is free verse and has an irregular rhyme. In the poem “Dreams” The rhyme scheme is a quatrain verse, which means it’s rhyme scheme is ABCB, DEFE. In the first line of “Harlem” it gives important information about the speaker and it makes the reader actually think about that question. The poem “Dreams” it’s more of a conversation like poem, but “Harlem” is more of a formal poem because it’s asking questions and not trying to hold a conversation. In both of the poems there are a lot of metaphors. In the poem “Harlem”, For example, one of the lines said “Does it stink like rotten meat…” which like is referring to the ambition that isn’t recognized anymore. In “Dreams” there is personification in two of the lines in the poem. An example of personification is “For if dreams die…” it’s referring to when ambitions are not wanting to be accomplished any more they “die” or go away.

The tone is this way because he was tired of people putting their ambitions and seeing them give up. In “Dreams” the tone is more of an upset tone. The poem “Harlem” is spoken in 3rd person. In the poem the word “it” was used a lot. “Dreams” doesn’t really have a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person. The poem “Dreams” is telling the reader to hold on to their ambitions, while in the poem “Harlem” is telling you not to throw your ambitions away. Both of the poems themes are based on ambitions and when someone doesn’t follow them. The tones are different in each poem because they’re showing how it makes some one feel when they throw their ambitions away and forget about