Dreams by Langston Hughes

Are the voices of your dead dreams calling out to be lived? HOLD FAST TO YOUR DREAMS! Do your dreams live you or do they live you ? HOLD FAST TO YOUR DREAMS! For if you don’t life can’t fly like a broken wing bird. The poem dreams by Langston Hughes is truly the greatest poem ever! Its engaging, inspiring, and very influential, it left me pondering about the message, despite its shortness. I like this poem because of the great images, intense metaphors, and its well understood message.

Metaphors have the most profound effect on me when I read poems. This poem was no exception, its metaphors had me going whoa that’s deep. Such lines like “ Hold fast to your dreams, for if dreams die” lets analyze the use of die. To Die means to become unable to sustain life, to expire or to fail. So this metaphor refers to if you don’t keep your dream alive they die. Next line “ For if dreams die, life is a broken wing bird, that cannot fly.” The word bird refers to freedom and peace. But this bird has a broken wing and cannot fly, which says that the bird has become a prisoner to its inability to fly. It must stay grounded and therefore cannot fly high and free. Your life the bird and is hinder from flying high or living to the fullest. Now the next verse is “ Hold Fast to your dreams, for if dreams go, life is a barren field.” For if dreams go has great meaning to in this verse of the poem. Second verse says for if your dreams go implies that, I either let my dream go or stop caring about achieving them. And if this happen then life is a barren field, implying that life loses its inspiration, its marvel, its humanity.

Images, created by the words that we hear and read. Poets use words to paint masterpieces we see in our minds, without them the poem has no feel or flair. Langston Hughes demonstrates his skill with his creation of this images. “A broken bird wing bird, that cannot fly” with this image we see a bird unhappy and unable to enjoy freedom of the sky. This image is powerful because it shows the reader a symbol of hope and peace, then shows it at its weakest. Personal I feels that something very powerful to show the reader. Verse two reads “ Life is a barren field” the word barren is used to show no life or no possibly of life. Barren field is a vivid image in my mind, I see a field of gray, no plants, animals, its cold, harsh and looks as if it was hell. An Image of a barren field shows the reader their worst nightmare come to life in landscape form.

Lastly, the message of this glorious poem. Without a doubt every poem ever written has a message or moral, but can you understand it or even find it. Finding the and understanding the moral or message in dream has relative ease. “Hold fast to your dreams.” has meaning in itself. Hold fast was a term used by sailors in a way say hold on or don’t give up. Basically this means hold on to or don’t give up your dreams. Langston Hughes I believe wrote this poem to inspire all who read it, to achieve their dreams. Maybe he experienced or possibly known someone who has let go of their dreams. Knowing the effect it had on them, he warns us in his own way, to never give up nor surrender your dreams!

Dreams by Langston Hughes has shown us why letting go of our dreams would become the greatest mistake of our life. HOLD FAST TO YOUR DREAMS! Hughes poem has great images, engaging metaphors, and the message I’ll carry with me all my life. HOLD FAST TO YOUR DREAMS! And I hope but reading this you become more aware of the importance of dreams in our lives. Dreams give us ideas, they inspire us, they give us courage, and most importantly they give us our humanity. Remember HOLD FAST TO YOUR DREAMS!!!!!