Lagnston Hughes' Poem Dreams

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Langston Hughes’ poem “Dreams” discusses the value of having goals and aspirations. The poem is relatively short and uses metaphors to express such utter importance of dreams. In the first stanza Hughes’ implies that a life without dreams is useless and may as well not even exist. The whole of a bird’s existence is to be able to use its’ wings to fly, just like a human’s life only has a purpose to exist if there are dreams to give it meaning. The second stanza contains another metaphor about comparing having no dreams to living an empty life. A field with nothing but snow, has no use in life except to just be there. The authors use of metaphors comparing lifeless nature to a life without dreams is extremely effective in getting the point across. After reading the entirety of the poem, it is clear that Hughes’ purpose is to convey the importance of having dreams and never letting them go, for without dreams, life is not worth living.
Hughes’ comparison of the injured bird, a frozen, empty field, and a life without dreams, demonstrates the connection lifeless nature has to a dreamless life. This struggle with choosing a life with vision and meaning, or choosing one without dreams and passions, may be a battle many people fight everyday. “For if dreams die life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly” (Lines 2-4) reveals the sadness and uselessness that comes from letting dreams wither away. The bird is life and its’ wings are dreams. Without dreams, life is worthless. It has no meaning, just like a bird that is unable to fly. The wings to life are dreams, they help people reach higher than ever thought imaginable. No wings, no dreams, means staying in the same monotonous place day in and day out. It is important to ...

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...bs). In his poetry and his life, he proved time and time again that dreams are the road to success and even though they may be hard to accomplish, it will always be worth it in the end.

Works Cited

Hughes, Langston. “Dreams.” New York: Knopf, 1994. Poets.org: From The Academy of American
Poets. Web. 7 April 2014
Rampersad, Arnold. The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes. New York: Vintage Books, 1994.
Print.
The Poetry Foundation. Chicago: Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute, 2014. Poetryfoundation.org. Web.
7 April 2014
Leach, Laurie. Langston Hughes: A Biography. Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004.
Print.
Flick, Amy. Langston Hughes. Ohio: Youngtown State University, 2003. cwcs.ysu.edu: Center for
Working-Class Studies. Web. 8 April 2014
The American Novel. New York: PBS, 2007. Pbs.org: American Masters. Web. 8 April 2014

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