This paper focusses on the subject of deferred dreams and we study three poems in this regard. The poems ‘Wild Nights’ by Emily Dickinson, ‘Harlem’ and ‘Let America be America Again’ both by Langston Hughes, all highlight the pain of deferred dreams in different ways and related to different circumstances.
Emily Dickinson’s poem ‘Wild Nights’ is a love poem expressing sexual passion and love. The poem falls into the genre of lyric poetry, there are three stanzas in the poem and each one has a quatrain. The poem expresses ardent affections and yearning to unite with the lover. The poet fantasizes desires and dreams to be with her lover and describes what it would be like together. The imagery in the poem is arresting and powerful, and at the same time complex and ambiguous in meaning for the readers. There is raging and storm in the waves but the other meaning for the lovers could be that their love making would itself have made a storm. It shows the intense passion and love of the lovers which is a kind of luxury for them, to be enjoyed by them alone. ‘Wild nights’ for the lovers means that they could do something adventurous together.
The contrasting image of the port and the sea tells the readers of two different conditions of the heart. The port suggests safety and no need for a compass, while the sea suggests danger, wildness and motion. The sea is suggestive of unleashing the passionate desires. But here we see Dickinson desiring something which is not possible as ships don’t moor at sea, and it is next to impossible. For Dickinson, safety is found in danger, and the heart can ne moored only in darkness. So in this way we see the poet’s dream being deferred. The absence and separation from the lover intensifies and enlarges the passion and desire to be with him, and is contained in the quiet and safe walls of Eden.
Langston Hughes’ poem ‘Harlem’ is about the deferred dream of the African-Americans, a dream about enjoying equal status as the other Americans and this deferral of their dream is taken seriously by the poet. Blacks were ill-treated and not considered equal by the other white American population. Some even treated the blacks like their slaves and exploited them ruthlessly. This really created discontentment and anger in the blacks who then stood up for their human rights. Hughes was himself Black and the unfulfilled promises of abolishing indiscrimination really made him sad and angry. The promises never turned into reality and the blacks continued to suffer. The whole poem except for lines nine and ten, are a series of questions and is built as a rhetoric structure.
The poet has tried to show in the poem what happens when dreams are deferred for too long. It makes the people impatient, angry and dejected. The gloom in which they live, causes more depression and distress. People dwindle between hope and despair both in a situation like this. Gradually the dream -“Maybe it just sags/ like a heavy load” (l. 9-10) – becomes like a heavy load and when it cannot be contained, it simply explodes in the end. The imagery used in the poem, to describe the state of mind when dreams are deferred or postponed for too long, is very vivid and strong. Delay in fulfilling the dreams causes disappointment and frustration; it dries up like raisin in the sun and stinks like rancid meat. It later becomes painful like a sore, with a longsuffering dissatisfaction. So in this way a deferred dream becomes like a painful injury which gets contagious. The image of ‘rotten meat’ the poet shows disgust and destruction. Rotten meat cannot be used again and is destroyed. Similarly, when fulfillment of dreams is delayed for a long period it kills the very essence of the dream.
In his poem ‘Let America be America Again’ Hughes feels that America has digressed from the principles and standards on which it was established earlier and is not the same anymore. Therefore he’s very upset and angry about it. So he exhorts people to become of what they had dreamt America to be like. Many people have come to America with hopes and dreams but sadly they are being let down badly. There is a vast inequality in terms of the economic conditions of the people as people who are rich become richer, and the poor get poorer. Those who have the power and authority over others, deprive them of opportunities of growth.
Freedom or liberty was a very important aspect of the American dream. Therefore the poet desires that the country be “crowned with no false patriotic wreathe” and no false promises are made to the citizens, especially the African-Americans, immigrants, poor whites, etc. Money is the root of all evil and that is exactly what has destroyed America. Materialism and greed have run rampant, and robbed people of their morals and values. The focus of the people has shifted from good values, integrity and sound principles, to gain, power and making money to be rich. The dreams of people have become “almost dead” and they are struggling in their lives. This really grieves his heart and he hopes for America to become a country where there are equal social, religious, economic and political rights for every individual.
Hughes encourages the citizens that its time for America to become what it hasn’t been yet and bring back the mighty dream into reality. He ends the poem with a true hope that one day America will be much more than what it is or has ever been.
All the three poems speak strongly of the pain caused when dreams are not fulfilled or its delayed. The poems by Hughes are more or less on a similar subject of equality and the dream to get a fair treatment for all. Both his poems focus on America and its people, especially the African-Americans who are deprived of an equal status and human rights. The dreams and vision that people had seen earlier for America to be like haven’t been turned into reality yet. Moreover, the ethic and morals of people have changed and ruined, in the race to become powerful and rich. Hughes is rather grieved and hurt to witness such a change.
In the poem by Emily Dickinson, her dreams are deferred because she’s living in seclusion and misses her lover. She remembers him fondly and imagines how it would have been like if the two were together. This dream is more of fantasizing, compared to the dreams in the other two poems where the dreams are for America to prosper, grow and become a great nation. Wild nights talks about a personal dream, whereas the other two poems talk of dreams for America to be a just nation with freedom for all. These dreams are more related to the welfare of the people, and not about personal pleasure. Dickinson’s poem shows the dream of love for her lover, whereas Hughes’ poems are about the dreams arising out of love for America to be a great country. All the poets have used strong imagery and a powerful tone and language, to bring out the meaning and effect of deferred dreams very clearly.
Reference
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/wild.html
http://www.thedatingadvisor.com/love-poem-wild-nights.html
http://www.enotes.com/wild-nights-wild-nights-salem/wild-nights-wild-nights
http://www.cswnet.com/~erin/ed8.htm
http://www.bachelorandmaster.com/britishandamericanpoetry/harlem.html
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15609
