Tanus yoder

Curmano freshman English

Per7
4/2/15

The Dream
Humble, beautiful, amazing: these words describe the dreams of a
black slave. And that is exactly what Dream Variations by Langston Hughes
is about. A slave whos only dream is to simply be free in a field, to rest, to
dance and whirl as the night comes on tenderly (16 Hughes) in some
place of the sun (2). Using discreet imagery and simile to bring on a
powerful tone and a strong message, Langston Hughes does an amazing job
of bringing his point to mind that in todays world we want too much and we
tend to forget about the little things.
The poetic devices in Dream Variations by Langston Hughes works to
glorify how simple yet wonderfully beautiful the dreams of a black slave
were. The poem uses the personification night comes on gently (7) and
night coming tenderly (16) to emphasize the simplicity of this dream.
Today all we want to do is live in luxury with wealth and we are all is able to
have anything we want, and sometimes even that isnt enough to make us
happy. And this shows How just the night coming over can make him so
happy. Two lines in the poem, which hold very strong parallelism, are Dark
like me, Black like me (8, 17). The dark and the black of the night is the
time he feels free. When he is free to do what he wants in his dreams and is
not constricted by the barrier of slavery. The entire poem is full of such vivid
connotation that brings forward the thought of how simple a dream can be
but still be so powerful.

Tanus yoder
Curmano freshman English
Per7
4/2/15
Dream Variations sets a joyful tone full of relief from the Quick, White day
(13, 4). The lines rest at cool evening beneath a tall tree (5-6), create a very
happy, relaxed attitude that brings joyful thoughts forth into the readers mind. The
words rest and cool evening are words that relax your thoughts, when you think of
resting you think of being relaxed, sleeping maybe, just completely at ease, and the
cool evening beneath a tall tree(6) brings the relaxed thoughts to mind and
creates a tranquil tone. Also the line Dance! Whirl! Whirl! (12) Bring the presence
of happiness. Dancing and whirling are two actions that are always closely affiliated
with happiness, the dance of a soccer player after hes scored a winning goal for his
team in the champions league final, the whirling of a person who has just one the
lottery in their living room during mid-day with arms extended wide as if to capture
all the joy they possibly can. The poem does a great job of capturing the relaxing,
joyful feelings of a black slave in the night, when he is free to dream.

The simplest dreams can be the hardest to reach. Langston Hughes

Dream Variations says just this by telling the humble dream of a slave but
showing how hard it is for him to reach it because of where he was put by
other people in life. Hughes uses discreet similes along with strong
personification and parallelism to get these points across is a simple yet
affective way as if to mimic the meaning of the dream.