A Raisin In The Sun
“Dream Deferred” (“Harlem”)
By Langston Hughes
1. The poem is titled “Dream Deferred” (“Harlem”); what does it mean to “defer”
something (look up the word if you don’t know it)?
2. Have you ever had to defer a dream or activity? If you haven’t, do you know the
story of anyone who has deferred a dream? Explain your, or their, story.
3. According to the poem, “What happens to a dream deferred?” and what does
that mean?
4. Throughout the poem Langston Hughes uses similes to express what might
happen to a “dream deferred.” List two below.
5. Analyze each image and explain what Hughes is trying to get across about a
“dream deferred.” Why are these images appropriate?
6. Using history, current events, a movie, book, play, or personal experience,
explain a time when someone’s dream was deferred and resulted in violence or
destruction, or heartbreak. How does this poem apply?