Dream+Variations

A Raisin in the Sun Intro
Downloadable Version:


 * Complete the following analysis:

Reflective journal: Think of a time when you had a dream about a certain thing, and you were ready to give up on it. What was the dream? What happened? Why were you ready to give up? What happened afterwards? (respond in journal) ** “Dream Deferred” ** 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? //
 * by Langston Hughes **


 * 1) What type of figurative language does the Hughes use?


 * 1) Identify each comparison and discuss its meaning.


 * 1) Discuss Hughes message and the importance of having dreams.

4. Identify how Hughes uses imagery for all five senses in his poem.

• Sight:

• Taste:

• Touch

• Smell:

• Sound: Handout One: Langston Hughes “Harlem: A Dream Deferred” 5. This poem is about Langston Hughes’ community in Harlem. What impression do you get of Hughes’ community in this poem?

6. Based on this poem, do you think life in Hughes’ community is easy or hard? Why?

7. Do you think this poem could be used to describe your community today? Why or why not? Langston Hug ughes “Dream Variations” (1926) Dream Variations

To fling my arms wide In some place of the sun, To whirl and to dance Till the white day is done. Then rest at cool evening Beneath a tall tree While night comes on gently, Dark like me- That is my dream!

To fling my arms wide In the face of the sun, Dance! Whirl! Whirl! Till the quick day is done. Rest at pale evening... A tall, slim tree... Night coming tenderly Black like me.

Directions: Answer the following questions about “Dream Variations”
 * Langston Hughes**

1. At the end of the first stanza, Langston Hughes exclaims: “That is my dream!” In your own words describe what Langston Hughes’ dream is.

2. In both poems that you have read today, Langston Hughes talks about dreams. How is his discussion of dreams in this poem different from his discussion of dreams in the first poem?

3. Based on this poem, do you think Hughes is satisfied with life in his community? Why or why not?

4. What goals do you think Langston Hughes had for his community?

5. Would you want to live in the world described by Hughes? Why or why not

Martin Luther King, Jr.
 * //"I Have a Dream"//**

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream." ¹ I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends. And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a //dream// today! I have a dream that one day, // do //wn in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a //dream// today! I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together." 2 This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning: // My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. // // Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride, // // From every mountainside, let freedom ring! // And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. But not only that: Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring. And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when //all// of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: //Free at last! Free at last!// // Thank //God //Almighty, we are free at last!// 3

6. What dreams do you think Martin Luther King had for his community? Do you think Martin Luther King’s dreams were similar or different from Langston Hughes’s dreams? What dreams do you have for your community? Are your dreams similar or different from those of Langston Hughes or Martin Luther King? Why? Can dreams become reality? How? Can artists play a role in making dreams into reality?
 * ANSWER THE FOLLOWING ON A SEPARATE SHEET OF PAPER. USE COMPLETE SENTENCES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! **
 * KANYE WEST LYRICS**
 * "Heard 'Em Say"**
 * (feat. Adam Levine of Maroon 5)**

Wake up Mr. West //[echoes]//

//[Kanye West]//

Uh, Yeah, Uh, yeah, uh, yeah, uh, yeah

//[Piano drops]//

And I heard 'em say, nothin ever promised tomorrow today. From the Chi, like Tim its the Hard-a-way, So this is in the name of love, like Robert says Before you ask me to get a job today, can I at least get a raise on a minimum wage? And I know the government administered AIDS, So I guess we just pray like the minister say, Allah o Akbar and throw em some hot cars, Things we see on the screen are not ours, But these ni**as from the hood so these dreams not far, Where im from, the dope boys is the rock stars, But they can't cop cars without seein' cop cars, I guess they want us all behind bars. I know it.

//[Chorus (Adam Levine)]// Uh, And I heard 'em say, nothin ever promised tomorrow today. (ooooooooo) And I heard 'em say, nothin ever promised tomorrow today. (Nothing's ever promised tomorrow today.) But we'll find a way (And nothing lasts forever but be honest babe, it hurts but it may be the only way)

//[Kanye]// They say people in your life are seasons, And anything that happen is for a reason, And ni**as guns a clappin and keep to squeezin', And Gran (Grandma) keep prayin' and keep believin', And Jesus and one day that ya see him, Till they walk in his footsteps and try to be him, The devil is alive I feel him breathin', Claimin' money is the key so keep on dreamin', And put them lottery tickets just to tease us, My aunt Pam can't put those cigarettes down, Now my lil cousin smokin those cigarettes now, His job trying to claim that he too ni**erish now, Is it cuz his skin blacker than licorice now? I can't figure it out... Im Stickin around....

//[Chorus (Adam Levine)]// Uh, And I heard 'em say, nothin ever promised tomorrow today. (ooooooooo) And I heard 'em say, nothin ever promised tomorrow today. (Nothing's ever promised tomorrow today.) But we'll find a way (And nothing lasts forever but be honest babe, it hurts but it may be the only way)

(Cuz every worthless word we get more far away, and nothing's ever promised tomorrow today, And nothing lasts forever but be honest babe, it hurts but it may be the only way)

//[Beat Changes]//

[ [|www.azlyrics.com] ]

** ANSWER THE FOLLOWING ON A SEPARATE SHEET OF PAPER. USE COMPLETE SENTENCES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ** Is Kanye West’s song similar to Langston Hughes’ poem? If so, in what ways? This poem is about West’s community. What impression do you get of West’s community? Based on this song, do you think life in West’s community is easy or hard? Why? How is the dream described by West similar or different to that described by Hughes? Is your community similar to the community described by Kanye West? Why or why not? What role did West play as an artist in drawing attention to the plight of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck? See this event on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIUzLpO1kxI Can you think of other African American contemporary artists whose work reminds you of Hughes’ work?