Langston Hughes: Dream
Langston Hughes was American writer and social activist. Explore interesting quotes on dream.
“Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.”
"Dreams," from the anthology Golden Slippers: An Anthology of Negro Poetry for Young Readers, ed. Arna Bontemps (1941)
“What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?”
"Harlem"
Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951)
Context: 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?
Source: The Dream Keeper and Other Poems
“Dream within a dream,
Our dream deferred.
Good morning, daddy!
Ain’t you heard?”
"Island"
Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951)
Variant: What happens
to a dream deferred?
Daddy, ain’t you heard?
“There’s a certain
amount of traveling
in a dream deferred.”
"Same in Blues"
Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951)
Variant: A certain amount
of nothing
in a dream deferred.
“Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.”
Let America Be America Again (1935)
“You talk like they
don’t kick dreams
around downtown.”
"Comment on Curb"
Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951)
“Good evening, daddy
I know you’ve heard
The boogie-woogie rumble
Of a dream deferred”
"Boogie: 1 a.m."
Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951)
“Why should it be my loneliness,
Why should it be my song,
Why should it be my dream
deferred
overlong?”
"Tell Me"
Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951)
"Same in Blues"
Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951)