Thursday, May 10, 2012

Harlem by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

      Does it dry up
      like a raisin in the sun?
      Or fester like a sore—
      And then run?
      Does it stink like rotten meat?
      Or crust and sugar over—
      like a syrupy sweet?

      Maybe it just sags
      like a heavy load.

      Or does it explode?
So what does happen to a dream deferred? I wonder if Langston Huges ever got his answer? Hughes "Harlem" can be understood as a metaphor for the state of the Afro-American community durning the 1950's. The speakers contemplation about what happens to a dream deferred is symbolic for the questioning of what will be next for black people. Although blacks had freedom they most definitley did not have equal rights; they were being treated as second class citizens and they were fed up with it. The underlying racism towards people of color in America left many feeling hopless and angry, this poem is meant to illustrate that frustration. Titled simply "Harlem" we immedietly understand who this poem is about; as Harlem in the 1950s was something of a Mecca for the African American community. The dream that is being deferred or ignored is one of equal rights; the dreamer (the Afro-American community) is not sure what will happen if hir dream (of equality) is not fufilled. The last line makes it clear to the reader that the speaker has a prediction about what will happen to the dream; it explodes!!

Langston Hughes captures his understanding of the social issues of his time; he proves that he understands the opionions of his people and he expresses these frustrations to the world through this poem.

The Ferryer

The poem is morbid and grim but also loving and sentimental. The speaker describes a dark senario where her deceased father acts as the ferryer to hell for the people she brings him. She describes her father's undead body with a cold realness that reminds me of death; shocking and unavoidable. I found the fact that she described her fathers "nipples" perverted and twisted but I think thats exactly the tone she meant to convey. The poem seems to be one straight out of a nightmare, the gresumeness of the poem is undeniable but there are also strong implications of love and warmth. The speaker explains the relationship between her and her father, he is doing this job for her, he is removing the people who hurt her from her life and waiting for her to die so that they can rest together. I believe this poem is a metaphor for Olds grieving for her fathers passing. In the poem he gets "rid of" the people that make her feel pain, this must be a paralle to the way a loving father makes his daughter feel  protected in life.
"When I dump someone in / he does not look back, he takes them straight / to hell." I believe this is the speakers way of expressing how her father would carry out his fatherly duties without hesitation, he would always be there for her. This point is also reinforced later in the poem when we learn that the two plan to die and rest together at the end of the poem. Another metaphor for heaven and him waiting on the otherside for her.

This poem is a description of the relationship between father and child and the expression of the moarning after the father has passed.