Cummings are united by themes of hopelessness in the face of loss. In “Harlem” Hughes examines the scenario of a dream being thrown off track, whether by conscious choice or by some outside force. Throughout the poem, he uses rhetorical questions to answer the original question: “What happens to a dream deferred?” Hughes suggests several possible outcomes for a dream that has been deferred. He first likens the dream itself to something commonplace—a raisin, a sore, meat, or a sweet—and then proposes what would happen to these things should they be ignored. An unattended raisin will shrivel and dry, a sore will fester and run, meat will rot, and a sweet will crust over.
The poem Valentine is an extended metaphor about how the unromantic properties of the onion fit the notion of love. Each individual stanza shows the different phases of love and how it begins with all the best intentions yet gradually changes into misunderstandings and violence. This is shown in the poem at the start as it says “it promises light” showing that it will eventually lead to something positive as the light represents a positive connotation. However towards the end of the poem it is shown to be quite violent as Duffy says “Lethal” which connotates something deadly or fatal that usually causes death therefore portraying the negative contrast to the poem. The structure of the poem has been manipulated to emphasise Duffy's key points.
This is how this piece of poetry got its name, because it captures the audience’s attention from curiosity of how the title relates to the poem. As we look at these series of similes, we find out what those affects are because, with each question the speaker offers a possibility of each negative effect. The first one “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun”: a raisin is already dry, and as a raisin, it is a good thing, useful and nutritious, but if a raisin is left in the sun to dry up, it becomes hard and impossible to eat; its value sucked out, it no longer serves its useful, nutritional purpose. If the dream does not dry up, maybe it will “fester like a sore—And then run.” The dream that festers becomes infected with the disease of restlessness and dissatisfaction that may lead to criminal activity, striking back at those who are deferring the dream.
Normally dreams represent freedom of expression as we learned in Unit 1 with the poems about oppression. I think that the author uses the dreams in this book as a symbol for the consciousness of Ishmael and how oppressed he is. In the poem "Oppression" by Langston Hughes there is a verse "Now dreams Are not available To the dreamers, " and in the book when Ishmael is recruited he loses his dreams
In the Cornel West article "Nihilism in Black America" he argues that the dilemma of African Americans is nihilism. This is somewhat parallel to W.E.B Dubois's Talented Tenth speech in 1903. Nihilism, according to West, is the lived experience of coping with a life of horrifying meaninglessness, hopelessness, and lovelessness. African Americans are threatened by the lack of hope and the “absence of meaning” in their lives. Dubois's philosophy not only shows nihilism in the black race during this era but it also shows the same lack of progression in the black community in 2011.
The quote inquires that a subliminal approach is taken in order to control the mind of African-Americans in every aspect of their lives, which is a brilliant point because African-Americans, from adolescent to adult, do not even bother to question why we as a people are in such a mediocritized state. I feel as if African-Americans get put in their “proper place” in society because of their ignorance to the fact that equality will be a never-ending issue. Black people need to develop a new-found sense of urgency, before we lose this battle by default. As time has passed over the years, racial oppression and discrimination have decreased from a national perspective, but is still brought up amongst the ranks of Black and White scholars. One of the most important points I believe Woodson made in his book is the following, “The same educational process which inspires and stimulates the oppressor
“Harlem” Poem “Harlem”, by Langston Hughes, uses a combination of dramatization, rhetorical questions and similes to stimulate the audience’s interpretation on the actuality of each object and how it is being used to defer dreams. The way the similes are being expressed gives the impression the speaker is very concerned with unresolved dreams. The poem itself discusses and questions what actually happens to the dreams many people put off. Most people in life have many dreams but whether the actually pay attention to them or not is the answers the question. The speaker is, in a sense, stuck between the first and the last line.
The poet tends to use informal diction throughout the poem which demonstrates how the speaker seems to still be in that childish stage and is not admitting to his mistake. He refers to his “butterfingered way…of asking [her if she would marry him]”, and the word choice shows that he is reminiscing and inserting himself in that situation again. The word “butterfingered” is not only childish, but butter is used to soothe pain from burns, so it connects with the incident he described. The poet informs the readers that love is difficult to express, and this is perceptible because the poet has an irrational way of expressing his emotions to the girl he loves. He uses specific words that have buried meanings in them.
Brooks argues that Americans are not as small-minded as they appear. Rather, Americans are an ingenious and dreaming people. Americans share a graciousness syndrome; specifically they have a hard time adjusting to reality circumstances. Brooks’ elucidation for the commonness of this Paradise Spell is recognizable – distinctively, the geographic expansiveness of the land of America and the prosperity of its resources. “The Paradise Spell is at the root of our tendency to work so hard, consume so feverishly, to move so much” (Brooks 63).
Once they have eaten of the lotus they prefer its half-life and they would prefer death rather than setting forth again. “The Lotus-Eaters” is amongst other things a creative allusion to Homer and presents the question of a known outcome not mentioned within the poem. The same question is found in Tennyson’s allusion to Shakespeare in his poem “Marianna”. The end of the story in Homer is very definitely not the mariners’ drugged wish, however Tennyson is interested in that moment that evokes a state of trance in the mariners. The readers know that in Homer the mariners continue with their journey but Tennyson opts to explore the mariners’ state when they are drawn to a life away from labor and responsibilities.