"Harlem" circa 1951
Langston Hughes' "Harlem" seemingly embodies the realm of possibility expressed throughout the Harlem Renaissance. By opening with the vast question, "What happens to a dream deferred?", Hughes addresses the unheard hopes and dreams of millions of disenfranchised African Americans. To this, he considers the diverse possibilities of wavering hope with concrete, visual language ("like a raisin in the sun", "like a syrupy sweet"). Abrupt punctuation creates urgency and excitement in dreaming up hopeful circumstance. Such stream of consciousness ebbs and flows between very bad and too good to be true until settling on an abstract reality: "Or does it explode?" In many ways, "Harlem" continually breathes the vibrant, new energy expressed during the Harlem Renaissance, empowering readers and instilling hope in the individual. Although I am immediately reminded of characters struggling to find a voice in "Raisin in the Sun", I believe Hughes was challenging his readers to seek empowerment in possibility.