Harlem

Langston Hughes

(1902-1967)

Harlem

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?

"Harlem," often referred to as "Dream Deferred,” touches a raw nerve today no less than when it was first published. Think, too, of Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool,” which is also part of “By Heart.” It seems African American poets have a special sensitivity for how young lives can be diminished or ended too soon.

Also, one cannot help but think that Dr. Martin Luther King’s great “I Have a Dream” speech was partly grounded in this poem. The dream Dr. King spoke of could be seen as a hopeful response to a dream deferred. It is not surprising that these writers used the notion of the dream for it is a powerful concept in psychology. Indeed, it works on the scale of an archetype, a deep mental structure which connects daily events with deeper meaning.

Another connection can be made to this poem, the concept of the dream and a related image – the caged bird. That connection begins with Paul Lawrence Dunbar’s poem "Sympathy" and continues to the better-known poetry of Maya Angelou. These two African American poets drew on the image of “the caged bird.” Dunbar was first, he wrote:

I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,

When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,--

When he beats his bars and he would be free;

It is not a carol of joy or glee,

But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core,[1]

But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings–

I know why the caged bird sings!

Years later Maya Angelou wrote her poem, "Caged Bird," using the same image and in it she says a bit more about what the cage bird sings.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom.

Scholars may know for sure if the connections I see here were actually in the minds of these poets, but it seems very likely.

One other observation about Harlem and that is the image of “a raisin in the sun” in the poem’s third line. The famous movie “A Raisin in the Sun” was based on a play of the same name by Lorraine Hansberry which debuted on Broadway 1959. Obviously, the title was drawn from Hughes’ poem. I did not know that. I should have, but I didn’t.

This poem was brought to my attention by Catherine Savage, a work colleague. She encountered it in a college course, and it has stayed with her. It is great to work alongside such bright and literate people.

This year, 2015, I asked for and received from Santa a book with all of Langston Hughes’ poems. It will take a while to read them all but that’s why one has a bedside table.

[1] “His heart’s deep core” – a reference to Yeats’ “deep heart’s core” from the Lake Isle of Innisfree?