Download Figurative Language in Poetry Analysis Worksheet Quick write and more Exams Poetry in PDF only on Docsity! Figurative Language in Poetry Analysis Worksheet Quick write: Before reading the poem, write a paragraph about a time you really wanted something and it was denied. This can be an item you wanted (like a new phone), an activity (like joining a sports team), or a life experience (like lost love). Focus on how you felt when you didn’t get what you wanted or had to wait a long time to get it. Brainstorm: * Background information: James Mercer Langston Hughes, (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967) is best-known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance. Lauded as the "Poet Laureate of Harlem" in the 1920s, Langston Hughes was one of the first African Americans to earn a living solely as a writer. Hughes was known mainly for his poetry. But he also wrote plays, novels, a wealth of nonfiction pieces, and even an opera. In his explorations of race, social justice, and African-American culture and art, Hughes' writing vividly captures the political, social, and artistic climates of Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s. During that time in Harlem large numbers of African American workers moved to New York. They came not just for jobs but also to escape the inherent unfairness and obvious and accepted racism of the South. (The South had laws keeping blacks and whites separate allowing whites to have more rights and greater freedom than blacks.) There were various patrons of the arts during the “Harlem Renaissance,” both black and white, including the very wealthy A'Lelia Walker who ran an influential meeting group from her home. Walker paid Africian-Americian poets, novelists, musicians, and others so they could create and invent artistically. Three main political figures kept the hopes of freedom for African Americans alive and made Harlem a political hotbed of activities. The three figures were W.E.B. Dubois, James Weldon Johnston, and Marcus Garvey. Unlike other notable black poets of the period, Hughes refused to separate between his personal experience and the common experience of black America. He wanted to tell the stories of his people in ways that reflected their actual culture, including both their suffering and their love of music, laughter, and language itself. deferred = definition: deferred - To put something off until a later time; Synonyms: postponed, delayed, held back A Dream Deferred by 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 it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?
