158k views
20 votes
Read the poem "Harlem" by Langston hughes. 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? Discuss the meaning of two instances of figurative language. Then, choose three words and explain how to connotations of those words create meaning in the poem.

2 Answers

9 votes

Answer:

Two examples of figurative language in the poem are:

"raisin in the sun" and "rotten meat"

It is figurative language as it gives readers a visual image of what the author refers to as "dream deferred". In the case of "raisin in the sun" it makes readers a mental image of a sunset or sunrise when the sun rises or sets. And with "rotten meat" it makes readers think at some point that they bought rotten meat or that they let it rot by accident. My three words are:

"heavy load", "fester like a sore" and "dry up".

The phrase "heavy load" creates the feeling that the "dream deferred" feels heavy to carry, since one feels bad about it. The phrase "fester like a sore" refers to the fact that in a sore there is pain since it is a wound but also if you do not take care of it rots, it can be interpreted that "dream deferred" refers to the fact that it was not given due care to the dream and that made it rot. And finally "dry up" can be interpreted as "dream deferred" which refers to the fact that like a river dreams dried up, and the person lost hope in his dream.

User Mike Henke
by
4.6k points
7 votes

he uses words of food, disease & hardships as similies

"raisin in the sun" which is also the name of a famous play about an African American family moving into a white neighborhood

raisin in the sun...when a grape has been dried by the sun or beat up like this poem says, it shrivels into a raisin. meaning when a dream has been delayed too long and neglected it can change or shrivel

shrivel can remind us of when a plant has not been given watered and nutured...plant can shrink

what it means to put dreams on hold

papersowlcom

User Vasil Valchev
by
4.9k points