Hello! My assignment: Analyze the poetic techniques that allow the poet to communicate his tone. Use the terms from this unit as effectively as you can.

Question

Here is my analysis. Does it sound alright?

In the poem “Dream Deferred”, Langston Hughes uses a variety of poetic techniques in order to convey a serious tone. The poem consists of 11 lines that create four stanzas. The syntax consists of six questions within the poem that are broken into two lines each, perhaps to cause the reader to ponder each question more thoroughly. Hughes uses similes to compare a deferred dream to common but unpleasant things. He begins to compare a dream to a raisin drying in the sun. He wants us to think of our postponed dreams as something that will no longer contain the passion that it once had, because it has been neglected. Next he compares a deferred dream to a festering sore as well as rotting meat. A festering sore and rotting meat are not very pleasant things or pleasant for comparisons. However, Hughes is using these two comparisons so we can imagine neglected dreams as something that decays over time when it is not given the attention it needs to prosper. It is not of the same quality. Then, he compares it to a sweet syrup that crusts and sugars over. Here, Hughes is wanting us to think of a dream as something sweet and enjoyable. A sweet syrup loses its consistency when it is not savored and appreciated, and it hardens and becomes something not as delightful as it once was. It loses the value it once had at its most ideal state. It is the same for a dream, except it does not physically harden. Finally, he compares a deferred dream as a heavy load that sags. Perhaps Hughes is wanting us to ponder that a dream we prolong is something that we must carry that eventually becomes a burden until it is recognized and cared for. Hughes diction is rather terrible, as he uses words such as “fester”, “stink”, “crust”, and “sag”. Although the words aren't very attractive, and have negative connotations, it is Hughes’ intention. These words evoke disgust and pity from whomever reads it, therefore contributing to the serious tone of the poem, and the negative effects of a deferred dream. The images that Hughes creates with a raisin drying in the sun, a festering sore, rotting meat, syrup that is crusting and sugaring over, a heavy load sagging, and “explode” allow us to picture these scenarios so that we may fully contemplate his message. We may not know exactly what deferred dreams look like, but because we can picture these images, we are able to easily grasp the importance of keeping dreams alive. 

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Thank you!

Answer 1

First ... divide this too-long response into paragraphs so the reader doesn't get a headache.

You may have to do some revising to make sure the paragraphs make sense.