Montage of a Dream Deferred

Langston Hughes (1902 - 1967)

Deferred

This year, maybe, do you think I can graduate?
I’m already two years late.
Dropped out six months when I was seven,
a year when I was eleven,
then got put back when we come North.
To get throughIn what ways does this line play on the concept of "deferred"? high high schoolat twenty's kind of late--In what ways does this line play on the concept of "deferred"?
But maybe this year I can graduate.

Maybe now I can have that white enamel stoveWhat technique does switching between straight and italicized lettering indicate?
I dreamed about when we first fell in love
eighteen years ago.
But you know,
rooming and everything
then kids,
cold-water flat and all that.
But now my daughter’s married
And my boy's most grown--
quit school to work--How is this detail a continuation of the speaker’s deferment?
and where we're moving
there ain't no stove--
Maybe I can buy that white enamel stove!

Me, I always did want to study French.
It don't make sense--
I'll never go to France,
but night schools teach French.
Now at last I've got a job
where I get off at five,
in time to wash and dress,
so si'l-vous plait, I'll study French!

Someday,
I'm gonna buy two new suits
at once!

All I want is
one more bottle of gin.

All I want is to see
my furniture paid for.

All I want is a wife who will
work with me and not against me. Say,
baby, could you see your way clear?

Heaven, heaven, is my home!
This world I'll leave behind
When I set my feet in glory
I'll have a throne for mine!
This section is jazz-inspired but in a different style than the rest of the poem. What style does it best represent? Why would Hughes switch styles just for this stanza?

I want to pass the civil service.

I want a television set.

You know, as old as I am,
I ain't never
owned a decent radio yet?

I'd like to take up Bach.

	MontageThe full poem is titled 
Montage of a Dream Deferred
because of the collage-like 
nature of creating a single 
poem from dozens of smaller 
poems. In what way does this
 smaller poem, "Deferred," 
 also represent a montage?
	of a dreamThe full poem is titled 
Montage of a Dream Deferred 
because of the collage-like 
nature of creating a single 
poem from dozens of smaller 
poems. In what way does this
 smaller poem, "Deferred," 
 also represent a montage?
	deferred. 
The full poem is titled 
Montage of a Dream Deferred 
because of the collage-like 
nature of creating a single 
poem from dozens of smaller 
poems. In what way does this
 smaller poem, "Deferred," 
 also represent a montage?

Buddy, have you heard?What type of dreams are deferred here? Are they big-picture or basic needs? Is this the American dream presented in other American literature?

Harlem

What happens to a dream deferred?In light of the comparisons Hughes draws, what future does he see for the deferred African American dream?

	Does it dry up
	like a raisin in the sun?
	Or fester like a sore--
	And then run?
	Does it stink like rotten meat?
	Or crust and sugar over--
	like a syrupy sweet?
	

	Maybe it just sags
	like a heavy load.
	

	Or does it explode?In what way might a dream "explode"?
	

Island

Between two rivers,With the exception of the four lines that begin "Heaven, heaven is my home" in "Deferred," "Island" is the only one of the three small poems that capitalizes the first word in every line. Why may Hughes have made that decision?
North of the park,
Like darker rivers
The streets are dark.

Black and white,
Gold and brown--
Chocolate-custard
Pie of a town.

Dream within a dream,
Our dream deferred.

Good morning, daddy!

Ain't you heard?

By Permission of Harold Ober Associates Incorporated
Copyright © 1994 by the Estate of Langston Hughes.