Poetry Project Part II - Grade: A PDF

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Poetry Analysis on Dream Variations by Langston Hughes...

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Andrea Bisono Professor Lutzyk Poetry Project Part II December 5, 2018 Dream Variations Analysis When I came across this poem, the title caught my eye. “Dream Variations” led me to the prediction that this poem was going to be about different types of goals, hopes, and dreams. I felt connected to the title because I myself have many different goals that I hope to one day accomplish or reach. The poem makes me feel like there were so many more issues in society back then rather than how much easier society has it now. The poem begins by describing a beautiful dream for a carefree life where racial segregation does not exist, however with this dream can also represent a deep connection with African roots. Just like in most of Hughes’ poetry, this poem interprets the African Americans plea for equality and explains how different society was in his time. One of the many literary devices used in this poem is personification. Personification is used in this poem when Hughes says “In the face of the sun” (line 11, second stanza) and “Night coming tenderly” (line 16, second stanza). The sun does not have a face and the night time cannot be tender, yet these qualities are still applied to them. He is saying that he wants to be free with the sun hitting his face just like it did for every white person and that the night time is a safe haven for him because it is dark like his skin color. Another literary device being used in the poem is verbal irony. Hughes uses verbal irony by comparing the dark night with himself, one can infer that the speaker being African American feels more protected or safe during the

nighttime: “Night comes on gently, dark like me” (lines 7-8; first stanza“). Being dark, it is harder to identify him in the night. In addition, the use of imagery is very obvious and in sight in the poem. Imagery is used when describing the evening, tree, and dancing. In the poem, Hughes uses phrases such as “cool evening” (line 5, first stanza), “beneath a tall tree,” (line 6, first stanza), and “Dance! Whirl! Whirl!” (line 12, second stanza). These lines contribute to the overall feeling of freedom. The reader can picture the narrator beneath a tall tree on a cool evening, dancing and singing. The use of imagery emphasizes how African Americans would fantasize about finally being free and how happy they would be if they just had the chance of freedom. When hughes says “black like me” (line 17, second stanza), this idea of freedom becomes more powerful. Although there are various tones being used in this poem, the overall tone of the poem is joyfulness. The speaker uses a low diction, which makes this poem simple and straightforward, however the theme is questionable since the act of dancing may be symbolic. One of the themes in this poem is based on discrimination and African Americans not being treated equally or fairly at the time. This theme is not shown in the furious or melancholy type of tone, you can still realize the power of what his dream is. Just as some other poems written by Hughes, this poem was written in a style that imitated the structure of blues music. The way the stanzas are divided suggests music and dance, since the poet structures words between stress and unstressed syllables in order to create a sense of musicality. There is a shift in the poem after the line “That is my dream!” (line 9, second stanza), which interprets the whole point of the poem, to dream. The first half of the poem is

towards being free and the second half of the poem is where dreams are getting bigger and better than before. The title of the poem is “Dream Variations” because of all the different kinds of dreams African Americans having about having freedom and living a life where there is no racial discrimination. African Americans would be judged and discriminated because of the color of their skin, this poem was written to reflect on how they felt about discrimination....