Comparing and Contrasting Elements in Poems
Langston Hughes’s, “Harlem (or A Dream Deferred)” depicts what occurs when a dream is postponed over a long period of time. Maya Angelou’s, “Still I Rise” depicts the speaker’s resistance to those who try to oppress her. Incorporating both similes and metaphors, “Harlem” and “Still I Rise” are used to portray the different reactions of the speaker towards being oppressed, and the different kinds of oppression they face.
Although both poems use similes to portray the speaker’s reaction to oppression, the speaker in the first poem faces the oppression of a dream coming true, the speaker in the second poem faces the oppression of herself. In the beginning of the poem “Harlem”, the first simile “Does …show more content…
Finally, he makes the analogy of a dream deferred to a “heavy load”, it weighs on the shoulders of the speaker that the dream goes on for a long period of time and it continues to be unfulfilled. It puts a constant pressure on his shoulders and makes it a constant thought on his mind that can build up and cause negative outcomes, like rage, violence, depression, etc. However, in the poem, “Still I Rise”, the speaker first compares herself to dust rising and air, symbolizing her perseverance after being stepped on by many others and like the dust and air, she rises. She does not stay down when others try to oppress her and instead rises up when she is pushed down and stepped over. She never succumbed to the pressure of her oppressors. The speaker also compares her stride to having “oil wells pumping” in her living room, her laugh like she has “gold mines” in her backyard and her dance like she has “diamonds” between her thighs. The optimism of her stride, the joy in her laugh and her dance of joy in the face of her oppressors symbolize the strength …show more content…
In “Harlem” the metaphor, “or does it explode” refers to the buildup of frustration and anger of the speaker from a dream deferred resulting in an explosion of those suppressed emotions. The buildup of the negative emotion is like a fire to a bomb, it first starts with something small. But, as the time passes, the hope for the dream coming true begins to dwindle and all those suppressed emotions explode. The result of that explosion has many negative outcomes due to the buildup of negative emotion, i.e., depression, violence, etc. In “Still I Rise” the metaphor, “I am a black ocean” refers to the speaker herself, the ocean is vast and there are always tides that try to move the ocean, but the ocean remains the same. Though the environment around the speaker is negative, the she still remains the same inside, confident and optimistic, not letting negativity on the outside affect her on the inside. Though both metaphors were presented similarly in one line, both metaphors represent the different reactions to
Langston Hughes’s, “Harlem (or A Dream Deferred)” depicts what occurs when a dream is postponed over a long period of time. Maya Angelou’s, “Still I Rise” depicts the speaker’s resistance to those who try to oppress her. Incorporating both similes and metaphors, “Harlem” and “Still I Rise” are used to portray the different reactions of the speaker towards being oppressed, and the different kinds of oppression they face.
Although both poems use similes to portray the speaker’s reaction to oppression, the speaker in the first poem faces the oppression of a dream coming true, the speaker in the second poem faces the oppression of herself. In the beginning of the poem “Harlem”, the first simile “Does …show more content…
Finally, he makes the analogy of a dream deferred to a “heavy load”, it weighs on the shoulders of the speaker that the dream goes on for a long period of time and it continues to be unfulfilled. It puts a constant pressure on his shoulders and makes it a constant thought on his mind that can build up and cause negative outcomes, like rage, violence, depression, etc. However, in the poem, “Still I Rise”, the speaker first compares herself to dust rising and air, symbolizing her perseverance after being stepped on by many others and like the dust and air, she rises. She does not stay down when others try to oppress her and instead rises up when she is pushed down and stepped over. She never succumbed to the pressure of her oppressors. The speaker also compares her stride to having “oil wells pumping” in her living room, her laugh like she has “gold mines” in her backyard and her dance like she has “diamonds” between her thighs. The optimism of her stride, the joy in her laugh and her dance of joy in the face of her oppressors symbolize the strength …show more content…
In “Harlem” the metaphor, “or does it explode” refers to the buildup of frustration and anger of the speaker from a dream deferred resulting in an explosion of those suppressed emotions. The buildup of the negative emotion is like a fire to a bomb, it first starts with something small. But, as the time passes, the hope for the dream coming true begins to dwindle and all those suppressed emotions explode. The result of that explosion has many negative outcomes due to the buildup of negative emotion, i.e., depression, violence, etc. In “Still I Rise” the metaphor, “I am a black ocean” refers to the speaker herself, the ocean is vast and there are always tides that try to move the ocean, but the ocean remains the same. Though the environment around the speaker is negative, the she still remains the same inside, confident and optimistic, not letting negativity on the outside affect her on the inside. Though both metaphors were presented similarly in one line, both metaphors represent the different reactions to