Dreams

Author's Note: This is my figurative language essay on the poem Dreams by Langston Hughes. I picked it because, I can relate to it, and I know what he's talking about. I find his figurative language well worded, and easy to understand. 

Hold fast to dreams

For if dreams die,

Life is a broken winged bird

That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams

For when dreams go,

Life is a barren field

Frozen with snow.

Figurative language is something you can find in every writing piece. It changes the meaning and the tone in a story. I think a story with more figurative language is harder to understand, but it makes the overall story better. Figurative language is found everywhere, and I thought it was used well in a poem by Langston Hughes, called Dreams. It’s not a long poem, but there is a lot of figurative language, and even more meaning.

In the first stanza, the poem reads, “Life is a broken winged bird, that cannot fly.” That’s a metaphor for saying if you don’t follow your dreams, and work for them, you will never succeed with your goals, and you will not be happy. If it’s really what you want, effort is huge. The tone this metaphor is displaying is hard work and having big dreams. If you never dream, your life will be the same each and every day.

While this excerpt is a metaphor, it also has personification. It is showing life as a bird. If it has broken wings, how is it expected to fly? If you don’t believe your dreams can be real, how can they come true? In the second stanza, it also displays personification, still using life as the comparison, but this time using “a barren field frozen with snow.” These lines show that Langston Hughes think that a life without dreams is a life without meaning. He is expressing that without dreams, nothing can happen, and with a barren field, nothing will ever grow.

I found this poem compelling because it can relate to all people. All people dream and all people have felt the pain of losing something you dreamed of. Another thing that made it compelling was the author’s use of great metaphors. I can read his metaphors, and see them. When I see the broken winged bird, I can make the comparison to chasing dreams.

Almost every poem has figurative language, but this one stood out to me because it was such a short poem but it had a lot of meaning.  The way the author went about his word choice was great, which made the meaning of the poem more understandable. This poem is probably my favorite poem, because my dreams are big, and it just gives me more confidence. You only get one shot at life, and if you really want your dreams and you don't get them, you will regret it later. The length of the poem doesn’t matter. It could be a 3 page poem or a three sentence poem, but all god poems have good figurative language.