Variations By Langston Hughes

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Hopes and Dreams The oppression and discrimination used among people leads to an unequal and wrongful society. Dream Variations is a poem by Langston Hughes written in 1926 which describes the joyous dreams and hopes of people who are enslaved. The speaker in the poem seems to be an African American slave working under a white person. All throughout the poem, the speaker describes his dream where he is free and able to do what he pleases. Both stanzas in the poem are very similar to each other, only having a word or two different in each verse. In heart, the poem showcases the inequality in our world and how social conditions restrict people from living their lives to the fullest. This is established through Hughes’ excessive use of repetition, …show more content…

This is first shown in the first verse of each stanza, where the speaker states “To fling my arms wide” (1, 10). Through this verse, the speaker expresses the joy and happiness present in his dream by “spreading” his “arms wide” and admiring the beauty and peacefulness in the ideal world around him. The repetition of this verse at the start of both stanzas signifies the importance and magnitude of freedom displayed both in his joyous dream and in his cruel reality. Carrying forward, repetition is again displayed when Hughes writes “Dance! Whirl! Whirl!” (12). In this verse, the speaker dances and whirls during the daytime, showing his delight. With the repetition of “Whirl!” the speaker emphasizes his happiness and freedom through dance and playful actions. In all, the amusing and gleeful dream of the speaker and his contrasting reality is displayed through the use of …show more content…

This is first shown in the poem when it states “Till the white day is done” (4). In this verse, the speaker compares the day time to the time where white people are in power. This is due to the harsh social conditions at the time the speaker lives in, where African American people are enslaved and oppressed under white people. In this case, the “white day” is the time when the speaker does slave labour under a white person. A simile is displayed in the poem when it states “While night comes on gently,/ Dark like me” (7-8). In this verse, the speaker witnesses dusk slowly turning into night, as he admires its beauty as it changes. The speaker compares the calm nature and dark shade of the night to his tranquil behaviour and dark colour of his skin. To sum up, Hughes’ use of comparative devices help to convey the message of freedom and the harsh social conditions in the life of the

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