Dream Deferred Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes was part of the Harlem Renaissance and was known as "the poet laureate of Harlem." His poems tell of the joys and miseries of the ordinary black man in America. In Hughes' poem "Dream Deferred" he uses figures of speech, tone, and a unifying theme to show how black people's dreams were delayed.

Hughes uses similes and metaphors--figures of speech--to portray that often times their dreams never came true. He asks if they "dry up like a raisin in the sun," if they "fester like a sore," if they "stink like rotten meat," or if they "crust and sugar over like a syrupy sweet." All of these statements are examples of similes. Even though he is using similes as comparisons, he is actually asking what happens to a "dream deferred."