18 pages • 36 minutes read
Langston HughesDreams
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1923A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“Children’s Rhymes” by Langston Hughes (1926)
While Hughes doesn’t explicitly mention race in “Dreams,” his speaker in “Children’s Rhymes” directly addresses the racial dynamic of dreams. The speaker—a Black child—grasps that white people have hopes that Black people lack. As the speaker quips, “I know I can’t / be President” (Lines 4-5). The poem also touches on immobility when the speaker states, “We know everybody / ain’t free” (Lines 9-10). The adversity doesn’t defeat the speaker. They challenge the prejudiced status quo and, arguably, hold onto their dreams.
“Harlem” by Langston Hughes (1951)
In “Harlem,” dreams continue to symbolize hope. Instead of a metaphor, Hughes uses a series of unbecoming similes (a comparison using “like” or “as”) to highlight how “a dream deferred” (Line 1) negatively impacts a person's life. The images are as disquieting as the illustrations of the hurt bird and frozen field: There’s a dry raisin in the sun, a festering sore, and a pile of rotting meat. Conversely, Hughes’s speaker allows for mobility. The dream might “explode” (Line 11) on its own and take off despite the repression.
“The Crazy Woman” by Gwendolyn Brooks (1960)
The 20th-century poet and novelist Gwendolyn Brooks subverts “Dreams.” While Hughes’s speaker uses ghastly imagery to keep readers from losing their dreams, Brooks’s speaker dreams of a close relationship with a type of gloom. In her poem, the speaker dreams of singing in the “frosty dark” fall (Line 7) instead of the bright, abundant spring. Brooks’s speaker preserves their mobility by confronting the adversarial “little people” (Line 9) and singing her song in November. Thus, disquieting, “dark” imagery isn’t inevitably negative.
Further Literary Resources
The White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty (1996)
In Beatty’s satire, the young Black protagonist, Gunnar Kaufman, holds onto their dreams and experiences an array of successes. Gunnar excels at basketball and literature, and he receives an offer to attend Harvard. Conversely, the novel spotlights the superficiality of dreams and hopes. Success doesn’t always come with fulfillment. People can find themselves burdened with hopes and dreams that they don’t intrinsically possess.
“How Langston Hughes’s Dreams Inspired MLK’s” by Kat Eschner (2017)
Langston Hughes inspired the 20th-century activist Martin Luther King Jr., and Eschner’s article describes how Hughes’s poems about dreams helped King shape his message around Black people and hope. Like Hughes, King saw dreams as a symbol of aspiration. In 1963, during the March on Washington, King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, outlining his hopes for a world where people assessed one another based on their specific traits, not on their skin color.
“Pity the Sad Legacy of Barack Obama” by Cornel West (2017)
In 2008, Barack Obama became the first Black president of the United States of America. Thus, hypothetically, the child in Hughes’s “Children’s Rhymes” could now dream of becoming president. Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign revolved around the word “hope,” and people debate how his eight years in office produced hope. In this piece, the scholar Cornel West argues that Obama did not create hope or change but continued the exploitative, unjust status quo. In other words, West claims that Obama didn’t make it easier for people to hold onto their dreams.
Listen to Poem
Hear Columbia University mathematics professor give his opinion on Hughes’s poem before providing a spirited reading of the lyrical work.
Related Titles
By Langston Hughes
