The poem consists mostly of rhetorical questions in no particular order. However, the organization of the poem is important. The stanzas are divided into a question, a group of rhetorical questions consisting of similes, a statement, and then another rhetorical question that's a metaphor.
The transition between the first and second stanza is the most important transition of the poem. The first line introduces the subject of the poem and what all the rest of the lines refer to: "a dream deferred". After this the poem explains, through rhetorical questions or statements, what happens to dreams that are deferred.
The second stanza and the third stanza consists of similes.
"Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?" shows how dreams, when left alone and forgotten, become useless. Just like a raisin left in the sun becomes trash, so do dreams.
"Or fester like a sore-
And then run?" relates dreams to sores. You have to be responsible and constantly care for your dream or it'l just take longer to accomplish.
"Does it stink like rotten meat?" is a simile explaining how dreams affect those around you. The lingering smell of rotten meat not only harms the person responsible for letting the meat rot but also those around the meat.
"Or crust and sugar over-
like a syrupy sweet?" is like the first simile. If you don't care for sweets, they get hard and become useless.
The fifth simile however, is a drastic change from the other four. Not only is it not presented in the form of a rhetorical question, but also it shows a dream that you're still holding on to.
"Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load."
It shows that a dream might just be a burden to carry.
These similes give negative imagery to help explain what happens to "a dream deferred", showing that only bad can happen when you leave a dream alone. Yet it still gives hope that this dream can be accomplished. But the last line, a metaphor, "Or does it explode?", shows exactly what happens to "a dream deferred": it goes away.
I feel like you could have elaborated more on the last question "Or does it explode?" You might want to consider why it was italicized or what the major significance is between it being a metaphor and the other questions being similes. Also, and this is something I do consistently too, watch for small typing mistakes while writing the blog (ex: It'l instead of It'll). Other than those two things I like your interpretation of the over all poem, including the dissecting of each individual question.
ReplyDeleteI appreciated your post because the format was clear and your observations were short and concise. The last paragraph seems somewhat conflicting though.You mention the negativity throughout the poem, yet write "it still gives hope that this dream can be accomplished." Maybe an elaboration on this particular statement would help. Perhaps I'm overlooking something? Otherwise your post was great :)
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