Poetry

1
Poetry

• Completing the Poetry Markup Worksheet for
  Langston Hughes
• A Dream Deferred

2
A Dream Deferredby 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?

3
Poetry Markup Worksheet

• Name Date
• Name of Poem A Dream Deferred
• Author Langston Hughes

4
Poetry Markup Worksheet

• Subject
• Speaker
• Audience

A series of rhetorical questions about living
with disappointment
Someone who is bitter about having his dreams put
off
Society
5
Poetry Markup Worksheet

• Tone
• Theme

Questioning, judgmental, warning
Having to postpone ones deepest desires can lead
to destruction or destructive behavior
6
Poetry Markup Worksheet

• Intrepretation

What happens to your dreams when they are put
off? Do they shrivel and die, or just eat away at
you and make you sick? Do they rot away, or do
you try to cover up the loss of your dreams by
convincing yourself its not so bad? Or maybe
the burden of your unrealized dreams drag you
down like an unbearable load. Or do they build up
until you cant take it anymore?
7
Poetry Markup Worksheet

• Techniques

alliteration dream deferred (line 1) similes
dry up like a raisin in the sun (line
3) fester like a sore- (line 4) stink like
rotten meat (line 6) Sugar over-Like a syrupy
sweet? (line 8) sag like a heavy load (line 10)
8
Poetry Markup Worksheet

• Techniques

imagery raisin in the sun (line 3) fester
like a sore (line 4) stink like rotten meat
(line 6) heavy load (line 10) explode (line
11) repetition does it (lines 2 6) Rhyme
scheme sun-run (lines 2 4) meat-sweet
(lines 6 8) load-explode (lines 10 11)
9
Poetry Markup Worksheet

• Reflection

I loved this poem. The authors use of imagery
and the cadence of the poem reminded me of a
person who is angry or bitter, and is trying to
think through possible consequences of having
your dreams put off for circumstances beyond your
control. It seems to me to be a warning for
society, that we are potentially creating an
explosive situation by denying some people the
opportunity to pursue their dreams.
10
Poetry
Read
11
The end