To emphasize the inquisitive contemplation of the poem, the first line utilizes syntax with the rhetorical question “What happens to a dream deferred?” This type of syntax runs throughout the poem to build up emotion and draw the reader into the poem until the reader finally reads the last line “Or does it explode?” Between these two questions, Hughes gives the

Hughes utilizes imagery to subtly draw the reader into the poem. The imagery progresses throughout the poem from visual when it states a raisin drying up in the sun or a sore that festers and eventually runs to the olfactory when the “rotten meat” stinks. Hughes also employs the reader’s sense of taste when he mentions “a syrupy sweet.” The diction and imagery alike of comparing a dream to spoiled food, later saying “it just sags”, and eventually having that dream explode allow the reader to relate to something “out there” with the food and sore, and then captures internal feelings with slumping and the explosion.

reader more rhetorical questions by employing similes to represent the different kinds of dreams that become postponed for whatever reason. The ones that “dry up/ Like a raisin in the sun” or “stink like rotten meat” sit in the minds of people, but nothing is done for the dream’s progression. Just as a sore runs when it can not hold anymore of what is inside, so

Some topics in this essay:
Langston Hughes, Black Americans, Dream Deferred”, , dream deferred”, draw reader poem, draw reader, “like heavy, “like heavy load”, syrupy sweet”, black americans, reader poem, heavy load”, throughout poem, happens dream, dream hughes,