Name:________________________________________Date:________
Harlem, A Dream Deferred
Directions: Please read the following poem and “mark it up” or “talk
back” to it in anyway that you see fit.
Harlem
By Langston Hughes
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?
1. What is your initial reaction to this poem? (thoughts, feelings,
questions)
2. What do you think the author MIGHT be trying to say to his
audience?
3. What do you think the word “deferred” means? What images or
thoughts come to mind when you hear it? Why kinds of things might
you “defer”?
In the box below, please write down our class brainstorm about the word
“deferred.”
2. What does the word “fester” mean? What images or thoughts come to
mind when you hear it? What kinds of things “fester”?
In the box below, please write down our class brainstorm about the word
“fester.”
What happens
to a dream
deferred?
Rephrase in
your own
words:
Based on this line, what might this
poem be about?
Does it dry up/
Like a raisin in
the sun?
Rephrase in
your own
words:
How could a dream “Dry up?”
Or fester like a Rephrase in
sore-your own
words:
How could a dream “fester” like a
sore?
And then run
Why would a dream run?
Rephrase in
your own
words:
Does it stink
like rotten
meat?
Rephrase in
your own
words:
Why would a dream stink like
rotten meat?
Or crust and
sugar over-like a syrupy
sweet?
Rephrase in
your own
words:
Why would a dream be sweet?
Maybe it just
sags
like a heavy
load.
Rephrase in
your own
words:
How does a dream sag like a heavy
load?
Or does it
explode?
Rephrase in
your own
words:
Please write a paragraph below in which you explain the theme (main
message) in Hughes’ poem. Be sure to explain how our certain words or
phrases, especially the words “deferred” and “fester,” relate to the meaning
of the poem as a whole.
Dream Deferred Re-write: Putting it in Your Own Words