Hughes Dream Deferred

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The title “Dream Deferred” is translated as a dream that is put off to the side until a person’s thoughts retracts back to it. The answer that this poem offers is directed to the question of what happens to this dream as it is lost in thought. In this poem, Hughes provides a variety of images that relates to his theories on the outcomes of these thought bubbles. The first sets of images he uses to compare dreams to are raisins, sores, rotten meat, and numerous sweetening foods. From the usage of these terms, all of these materials are those that can be easily desecrated. An example of this would be Hughes method for the riddance of the common sore. It is extremely visible when it first comes to a person’s skin but once it dries up its purpose is no longer there and it goes away. The example of the sore reflects on Hughes wonders of lost dreams. It’s very similar to the sore (and the rest of the materials listed in the first stanza). It springs out of nothingness from the thoughts and makes a temporary stay. Once the dreamer’s head moves to something else, that dream is believed to flee somewhere else. To sum up the first stanza, Hughes discusses his theory that dreams are very comparable to the simplest object that comes and goes. It’s fleeing destination unknown but it is very normal for them to leave a person because that’s its natural activity (similar to the effects that rotten meat naturally stinks). The last three lines represent new theories that are very different from the previous materials. In the second stanza Hughes infers that maybe dreams do not run away but probably stay in the same place and rots. It becomes a waste of space or perhaps an item that just sits there and gains the attention of dust. Instead of theorizing an unknown yet wondrous outcome for a dream, these two lines portray that previous dreams just stay at their original spot and just

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