Although Langston Hughes' poem "A Dream Deferred" may seem small and basic at first glance, there are many hidden meanings that are important to the important meaning of the poem. First of all, what one might notice at first glance is the strange format of the poem. One line basically asks the question “what happens to a dream deferred?” » and the lines below, all indented, offer some possible explanations. Finally, this poem ends with a final possible answer in italics, wondering if the deferred dream "explodes." When proposing possible explanations, Hughes uses similes to describe all of his explanations except the last one. Additionally, all the comparisons offered compare the explanation of what happens to a reported dream to food. This is because activities such as cooking and eating are part of an everyday experience. Ultimately, Hughes' goal here is to help the reader understand that staying on track to achieve one's dreams is just as essential to life as cooking or eating. Just like people not eating, not achieving their dreams will make life unfulfilling. In short, Hughes's purpose in this poem is to impress upon his readers the importance of keeping one's dreams alive and not giving up on them. In fact, Hughes' poem is commonly associated with Harlem since the Harlem Dream had been progressing well until the Great Depression, when chaos ensued and people forgot what the Harlem Dream was. Hughes uses this poem as a wake-up call to alert the residents of Harlem (and even people in general) that if they continue to delay their dreams, their quality of life will deteriorate and there will never be satisfaction. The speaker of this poem appears as an intelligent teacher who challenges his... middle of paper ...... how beautiful I am and how ashamed I am.” On the other hand, “A Dream Deferred” seems dark and depressing because it discusses the negative consequences of what happens to a dream deferred. Rather than having something to look forward to, Hughes brings up the possibility of something happening that most people would want to delay, like something disgusting or an explosion. It can be argued that in these particular poems, the failure of one event led to the next. When “I Too” was written in 1945, Hughes believed that there would soon be a day when race would no longer matter as much as it did when he published this poem. However, when Hughes noticed that racial equality was not improving (and in many cases getting worse), he wrote "A Dream Deferred" in 1951 to reflect how the goal of racial equality (among other things) had been forgotten and neglected.