Question

This poem 'Harlem' is full of questions.Is it significant that they have no answers? Marks-5​

Answer 1

Answer:

The unanswered questions are functional to the main themes of the poem. The dreamer is left with no answers as to the future of his dream which represents the hopes for equal rights between white and black Americans. This adds to the general sense of frustration. But the lack of answers also has an effect on those white readers that in 1951, when the poem was published in the collection Montage of a Dream Deferred continued to deny African Americans equal rights. This lack of answers creates a sense of doom and threat for the larger society, especially because the italicized question that closes the poem warns against the rage and violence that the frustration of living in a racist society could generate.