I Could Go For Some Sleep Right About Now...

So, this next poem, Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes, was probably my favorite one of the bunch.  This worked out pretty niftily seeing as we've spent the most class time up until this point discussing it.  The contextual history of the poem is very important; we know Langston was a black poet of the Harlem Renaissance and strong supporter of equal civil rights.  In the poem, Hughes uses several instances of figurative language; answering #11 is easy.  Each line in the poem is a simile or metaphor (except for the first, which is simply a rhetorical question).  Hughes writes this poem as food for thought for fellow civil rights supporters who may grow weary of the fight or slack on activism.  Each description of what happens to a dream deferred fits an equal demise to the fight for racial equality.  The best aspect of the poem in my humble opinion is the final line "Or does it explode?" [line 11]  I believe Hughes uses this as a worst-case scenario to show what may happen if whites backlash against the rising surge in black independence.  All very interesting thoughts to think about, knowing the outcome.