Dream Deferred

This poem by Langston Hughes, an African American writer during the Harlem Renissance, is constructed of all similies and one metaphor. Each simile asks a question exploring what happens to these deferred dreams. "Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" This is illustrating that if we do not chase our dreams now, it will dry up and no longer be available later. "Or fester like a sore and then run?" If sores are untreated, they get bigger and eventually become infected. Hughes is comparing sores to our dreams; if they aren't pursued then they will bubble up inside of us. "Does it stink like rotten meat?" This simile compares dreams to rotten meat and that if they are kept inside, they will haunt us forever. The last line, "or does it explode?", is the only metaphor in the poem. I am not positive if Hughes does this to set the comparison off from the others. The explosion is similar to what would happen if we left our dreams alone for a long period of time.