Topic > Dreams and Images in Harlem by Langston Hughes and in...

Dreams are images, ideas, emotions and sensations of an unconscious mind. But also the poems “Harlem” by Langston Hughes, “On the Pulse of Morning” by Maya Angelou and “I Feel America Singing” by Walt Whitman. You see that dreams are just a way of hoping for the future; a message that must be heard before it is too late for society to change. The first poem, "Harlem" by Langston Hughes, describes the future leading to a social struggle called "What happens to a dream deferred?" (1), and wants to know the results of when dreams are ignored “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? (2). He believes it will disappear. “Or does it explode?” (11). Imagine that the dream will disappear sooner or later, this poem is a message to the people. He says that we as a society need to open our eyes and see that hope is right on our faces and that in our dreams there are messages for us to make a change for the better. Hughes believes that difficulties will come to us as people and in these dreams there may be answers to our society or people. In “On the Pulse of Morning” by Maya Angelou, dreams are also thought of as messages to our society. He said, “Your mouth pours forth words/ Armed for slaughter” (19-20), describing that we must not destroy our world through ignorance and violence. “Guests of species that have long disappeared” (2), to look at the world face to face and not hold back because we don't like what we see. As she sees that we will come together as one again. “I and the Tree and the Rock were one” (35-36), we are strong and can make a difference in the world by embracing and finding peace in the world. Angelou wrote this because she said the world was going into turmoil and we need to stop the violence and create…half of paper…let's go to sleep for the start of a new day. The last poem "Station" by Eamon Greannan describes the father's farewells and so on between them. When we say “We are saying” (1) it means that father and son are saying goodbye to each other at the train station. “I want to tell him that he is entering the light of the world” (11). The speakers are trying to figure out what to say to each other. “We both know he will never be the same again” (14). Both interlocutors, the son and the father, know that the relationship wants to be the same. This poem talks about the character's consciousness and the thoughts both speakers think about the future and what they would be like without each other. These poems show that every dream does not necessarily have to be about the future or the past, but about what is happening now and the thoughts you are going through at that moment in time..