“Dream Variation” by Langston Hughes is one of my favorite poems that we have discussed so far in class (shoutout to Eric for choosing it). It describes a dream world that, unlike most others, isn’t lightyears away from possibility, and the sentiments of the world are parts of life that I agree are important. The poem has two contrasting stanzas, with one focusing on day and the other on night. The stanza set during the day says that the narrator wants to be able to “whirl and to dance / Till the white day is done.” I find this line particularly interesting because the whirling and dancing could be interpreted in a couple different ways. First and foremost, dancing is generally seen as something that’s done in times of celebration, and it’s often accompanied with happiness and laughter. This goes along with the dream aspect of the poem, because the narrator wishes for a life where he can be himself and dance to his heart’s content among others during the day. The other, much more negative, look at this line points to the common theme of African American people being forced to put on a show for white people by dancing and playing submissive. When looking at these lines in this light, I thought of the dancing Sambo doll from Invisible Man. Personally, due to the poem being the narrator’s dream for life, I’m assuming that the dancing and whirling is a symbol for the narrator wanting to be able to be himself, but Hughes likely used these words in particular to offer up the dual meaning and to show how life is outside of his dream.
The stanza set at night shows the other part of the narrator’s dream: being able to relax in solitude and with others. I think that this stanza is part of the dream because even though the narrator wants to be able to express himself in the white day, he doesn’t want to leave behind the special feeling of belongingness that he gets from the night. We see this idea when the narrator says, “While night comes on gently, / Dark like me.” The narrator feels relaxed in the darkness of night. I think that the night has more than just a literal meaning in this poem as well. The night could also represent the narrator’s African American friends and family who he still wants to be able to spend time with after the white day. Just because the narrator is now able to express himself during the day and around white people, doesn’t mean that he would want to lose being able to express himself at night too.
The third and last stanza glues the previous two together, and I think that its main purpose is to show that the narrator wants both aspects of life to coexist. He wants to be able to both be himself during the day and relax during the night. One change is that the last line is now “Black like me” rather than “Dark like me” from the previous stanza. This stresses the racial aspect of the night’s meaning and goes along with the idea of the narrator wanting to be able to spend time among those who share his culture during both night and day.
I love this explication of the poem! Many of Langston Hughes' poems include the idea of dreaming, or atleast variations of his dream. When I think of a dream, I think of the dreams of famous people like MLK, Harriet Tubman, and other people who achieved their goals. The idea that this poem is a variation of a dream helped me realize how your dream is something to be shared with others, not just kept internally. The more that I am exposed to the dreams of others, the more I want to achieve my dreams. I like that this poem is addressed to the audience, and helps highlight what Hughes' dream is, and how it came to fruition.
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