who are 'we'deffed to in the poem?
Answers
Explanation:
When analyzing a poem, it's essential to start with the title. The title of Hughes’ “What Happens to a Dream Deferred” literally asks a question. This sets up the poem to be about this question: what happens to dreams that are put off?
Start with what you know. What are the literal images? Raisins dried up in the sun, festering sores, the stench of rotten meat, overly sweet and sticky treats that are old and crusted. These are all negative images which can only mean that dreams, or life goals, that have not been met are very burdensome. It's like the gross stench of rotting meat that won't go away, or like the pain of many sores spreading over your body, or like a once juicy and ripe grape that has been dried out into nothing, or like expired candy that you won't be able to enjoy.
The second strophe asks if deferred dreams sag like heavy loads? The weight of dreams unfulfilled is also a negative image.
Hopefully with this you’ll be able to surmise the ending line.
Remember to take note of the formal qualities, are the lines long or short? What's the punctuation like? Are there more questions or declarations? What effect does this have on the poem? How would it be different if the lines were longer? If there were no breaks? If it weren't written in questions?