"Harlem- Dream Deferred"

One poem that is the most recognized as depicting life in Harlem, New York is “Harlem,” also known as “Dream Deferred.” When many people first read the poem without background information, they think that it is only about a forgotten or postponed dream; however, “Harlem” means much more, and Hughes’s intentions on writing the poem are not only to describe a broken dream, but to depict life for African Americans during the Harlem Renaissance and their struggles with racism and discrimination.
Hughes was determined to weave his literary works from real life personal human experiences, so the element of history is included in the poems that deal with the Harlem Renaissance, including “Dream Deferred” (Ekanath 2). Realism in literature is an "attempt to describe human behavior and surroundings or to represent figures and objects exactly as they act or appear in life," and Hughes sought to include the African American condition in his work (Ekanath 3). Although African Americans were emancipated from slavery in 1863, they were still struggling for equality from struggle and misery years after. Because of this, many works by African American writers like Langston Hughes started to appear (Ekanath 3).

A strategy Langston Hughes uses is concealing “politics” in “poetry” (Walkowitz 1). Hughes wanted his writing to be recognized as “art” that also depicts social and racial discrimination. Along with the historical viewpoint in “Harlem,” the poem is “marked by conflicting changes, sudden nuances, sharp and impudent interjections, broken rhythms, and passages … punctuated by the riffs, runs, breaks, and distortions of the music of a community in transition” (Smith 4). In a superficial reading of Langston Hughes's poem "Harlem," one sees only its obvious simplicity, but a closer reading reveals unresolved conflict because of the outer body of the poem that contends with the elements of its inner body (Hansen 1).While reading the poem, it is best to read as Hughes wrote, with the art of propaganda in mind and think of the life that African Americans had during the Harlem Renaissance.

Works Cited

Ekanath, Nila. "The Reality in Langston Hughes' Poems." Language in India 10.4 (2010): 13. Communication & Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. Web. 5 Dec. 2010.

Hall, Jo Claire. Langston Hughes Peace Bird Original Drawing. 2008. Photograph. QOOP.com. 2010. Web. 12 Dec. 2010.

Walkowitz, Rebecca L. "Shakespeare in Harlem: The Norton Anthology, 'Propaganda,' Langston Hughes." Modern Language Quarterly 60.4 (1999): 495. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 6 Dec. 2010.