The poem "Dream Deferred" by Langston Hughes primarily uses objects as symbols. The imagery of objects like a raisin, a sore, rotten meat, and syrupy sweets represents the various fates of a deferred dream. Each object symbolizes the potential deterioration of aspirations and hopes when they are postponed or unfulfilled. The use of these concrete images conveys the emotional weight of the poem's central theme regarding the impact of delaying one's dreams.
3.
Which type of symbol does this poem by Langston Hughes use?
Dream Deferred
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore –
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over –
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
person
object
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