Harlem Analysis - Literary devices and Poetic devices

Harlem
by Langston Hughes

What occurs to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin inside 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 simply sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Summary of Harlem
Popularity of “Harlem”: This quick poem is written with the aid of Langston Hughes, a famend American poet, novelist, and playwright. “Harlem” is a thought-frightening literary piece approximately dreams and plans. It become first published in 1951. The poem illustrates what could occur if our desires aren't fulfilled on time. It speaks approximately the fate of dream shelved, which include hopelessness.
“Harlem” As a Representative of Hopelessness: The poet narrates his sadness of deferred dreams. The poem begins with a question as he compares the dreams or goals with a raisin, meat, and sweets. The poet has used these analogies to evoke the photograph of a postponed dream. Each photo enables the reader to feel what exactly has came about to the speaker’s dream and the effect left on his mind. The description shows that his imaginative and prescient does not vanish so easily; instead, it goes through specific methods earlier than achieving the real country of decay.
Major Themes in “Harlem”: Delay, sadness, and goals are the primary themes of this poem. The poem speaks about the oppression of African-Americans. The tone shows that their desires always remain unapproachable and lose their meanings. The speaker feels the weight of these dreams, pronouncing when the burden will become unbreakable, it'll explode. On a deeper level, the poet is speakme approximately the humans having huge ideas, however lifestyles never lets in them to make their dreams a reality. The equal is the case with African Americans. They desired to free up themselves from the clutches of racism, however the supremacy of whites did no longer allow them.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in “Harlem”
Literary gadgets are gear that the writers use to enhance the meanings of their texts and to permit the readers to interpret it in a couple of ways. Langston Hughes has additionally employed a few literary devices in this poem to explicit his ideas. The analysis of a number of the literary gadgets used on this poem has been given below.

Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds within the same line. For example, the sound of /e/ in “Does it stink like rotten meat” and the sound of /o/ in “Or fester like a sore.”
Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds within the identical line. For example, the sound of /n/ in “like a raisin in the sun”.
Enjambment: It is described as a idea in verse that does not come to an stop at a line break; instead, it rolls over to the subsequent line. For example,
“Maybe it simply sags
like a heavy load.”

Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers understand things regarding their 5 senses. For example, “like a raisin in the sun”, “Does it stink like rotten meat” and “Or does it explode.”
Metaphor: It is a determine of speech in which an implied evaluation is made among different objects or persons. For example, “Or does it explode?” Here the poet compares broken goals with a bomb.
Simile: It is a parent of speech used to compare something with some thing else to make the meanings clean to the readers. For example, “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?”, “Does it stink like rotten meat” and “like a syrupy sweet.” Here are the broken goals are compared to decaying food items.
Rhetorical Question: Rhetorical question is a sentence that's posed to make the point clean. For example, “Or does it explode? “And “Does it stink like rotten meat?”
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in “Harlem”
Poetic and literary gadgets are the same, but some are used most effective in poetry. Here is the evaluation of some of the poetic gadgets used in this poem

Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of a few lines. This is a brief poem inclusive of eleven strains with no stanza break.
End Rhyme: End Rhyme is used to make the stanza melodious. For example, “meat/sweet” and “sun/run.”
Rhyme Scheme: There isn't any precise rhyme scheme in this poem. However, the first four strains consist of the ABCB rhyme scheme.
Quotes to be Used
The lines said below, and additionally the complete poem is suitable to apply through the human beings yearning for freedom.

“What occurs to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin inside 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?”