what happens to a dream deferred? does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?... or does it explode?
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Harlem (Dream Deferred) Harlem
Harlem
Line one
What happens to a dream deferred?
- If we were to respond this question right abroad, we'd probably say, "Nothing much, Mr. Speaker, it volition probably simply fade abroad."
- But there's something about the way our speaker says "dream deferred" instead of "deferred dream" that makes united states realize that nosotros are non in the world of logical rationale, simply rather the far cooler world of poetry, truth telling, and soul-searching. By beginning this poem with a question, we readers are put on the spot.
Line 2
Does it dry up
- What happens when things dry up? Well, they lose their moisture and their water. They become pocket-sized and withered. This line makes u.s. retrieve of deserts and summers and oestrus.
- Discover each of the words in this line only contain one syllable.
Line three
like a raisin in the sun?
- Raisins are supposed to be dry, right? They go raisins by sitting in the sun. Well, actually, raisins begin as grapes and gradually lose their juice when they are put out in the sun. Raisins are totally delish and tasty, merely they're non quite as succulent as grapes, in our humble stance.
- [We interrupt this program to alert you lot to a Really Cool Literary Fact (an RCLF). Famous American playwright Lorraine Hansberry took the phrase "a raisin in the dominicus" as the title of her play, A Raisin in the Lord's day. This play rapidly became one of the most dear works in American theater equally it captures the deferred dreams of a black family living in Chicago during the 1950s.]
Line 4
Or fester like a sore—
- Eww, "fester." Whenever nosotros hear that give-and-take, we can't help merely think of an open up wound full of puss and blood.
- Ordinarily, things fester when they aren't healing or when they aren't being cared for properly. Hither, our speaker suggests a deferred dream won't heal or go away.
Line 5
And so run?
- We know our speaker is continuing with the wound epitome here, wondering if dreams bleed themselves to decease if they are ignored.
- However, there's something very powerful about the discussion, "run." We can't help but call back virtually other meanings for information technology, meanings like "escape" or "flow."
Line half dozen
Does information technology stink similar rotten meat?
- If dreams are stashed abroad, volition they haunt u.s. like rotten meat haunts us when information technology sits as well long in the refrigerator? If rotting meat didn't smell so bad, how much longer exercise you recall it would sit in your refrigerator? The smell is often what reminds us to do something about information technology, to throw information technology away.
- This line stirs our sense of smell, because most of us have had an feel with the odour of rotten meat before. This is a smell closely associated with death.
- In this line, our speaker makes an interesting stardom betwixt ignoring dreams and getting rid of them altogether. We are reminded that "a dream deferred" is an ignored dream, not a canceled dream.
Line 7
Or crust and sugar over –
- What kinds of things chaff or carbohydrate over? Honey. Cheese. Candy. Usually things that left out in the open and that aren't put away properly.
- Tin dreams be put away properly? Tin can dreams exist preserved if they aren't pursued?
- Our speaker compares dreams to sweet-tasting things, stirring our taste buds and cartoon a contrast to the bitterness of lost dreams.
Line 8
like a syrupy sweet?
- Syrup reminds us of pancakes and of viscid hands. Syrup is practically all sugar, and it's slow-moving also. We know that our speaker isn't describing the slow-moving part of information technology, but by choosing the give-and-take "syrupy" at this moment, we feel similar things tedious down in a poem that moves very chop-chop.
- We imagine dreams being stuck to the counter in a puddle of syrup left over from concluding Sunday.
Line nine
Maybe it just sags
- Sagging things are things that are quondam. Floorboards sag from the weight of as well many people and too much furniture over the years. Bookshelves tin sag from the weight of too many books. Kindergarteners sag from the weight of backpacks that are also heavy.
- The verb "sag" is directly related to the weight of something. In this way, our speaker may be pointing out just how important dreams are. They are so important that they are heavy, and if they are ignored, they will abound to sag.
Line 10
similar a heavy load.
- The term "heavy load" reminds us of those days when we have a lot on our minds. Yous know those days. Someone asks you how you are doing, and all of your thoughts and worries come tumbling out of your mouth at total speed until y'all say, "Wow, thanks for letting me go that off of my chest."
- A load is something you carry, and if it is heavy, and so the going will be tough. Sometimes, others can help y'all deport your load, but nosotros get the sense the speaker is referring to a load that cannot be shared or alleviated.
Line xi
Or does information technology explode?
- Only like the first line of this poem, this final line is a question all past itself. Only unlike any other line in the poem, it is italicized, which makes us pay extra careful attending to it.
- The word "explode" seems to us to be both a very unsafe verb and a very celebratory verb. Information technology reminds usa of both bombs and fireworks. More chiefly, however, it makes u.s. think of things that have been gathering steam and pressure over time and that can no longer suppress this energy.
- In the world of this poem, this final line feels nearly liberating, but also tearing.
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Source: https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/poetry/harlem-dream-deferred/summary/harlem