Activity 1: Try to Connect

Read and reflect on this poem by Langston Hughes and answer the questions that follow. Write the
correct answer on a ¼ sheet of paper.

DREAMS DEFERRED
Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred?
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 just sags
Like a heavy load,
Or does it explode?

1. The poet reveals the speaker’s feelings mainly by using _______________

a. personification to show the characteristics of a dream.
b. similes to describe what happens to dreams.
c. metaphors to describe what happens to dreams.
d. synecdoche to show what dreams mean.

2. The repetition of the word “like” emphasizes the speaker’s desire to _______________
a. finds out what happens to dreams.
b. sees how dreams disappear.
c. understands what a dream is.
d. both A and B

3. The poet helps the reader understand how it felt to_______________

a. forgets about a dream.
b. be a dried-up raisin.
c. run away from the dream.
d. has a dream.

4. Based on the first stanza, the reader can conclude that the speaker______________
a. hates having a dream.
b. remembers all his dreams.
c. curious about what happens to dreams.
d. loves dreaming.

5. The imagery in lines 1 through 8 helps the reader understand what ______________
a. the reader thinks happens to a dream deferred.
b. a dream looks like.
c. the dreams do.
d. a dream should be made of.