Dream Variations

Langston Hughes’ Dream Variations aims primarily at the oppressed people dreaming for freedom of their own kind. Hughes had lived and experienced life of the African-Americans in the society of the Americans. He had a musical passion and had a unique way of writing his poetry using the blue’s structure. The speaker of the poem builds an emotional climax. Hughes’ poetry was driven by his concern for justice after the American Negroes suffered under the discriminatory laws and segregation. He targets children in his poetry encouraging them to discover their potentials and enjoy life with the things it offers.

In his poem, Hughes’ central theme and concern is addressing justice to the American Negroes. Oppression and slavery was going on when Hughes wrote the poem. The two stanzas look particularly similar, and they give a change in stance for the culture of African America. The line “To fling my arms wide in some place of the sun” indicates a place where there is sunlight and freedom and where the speaker yearns to be.

In the poem’s third line, Hughes says, “To whirl and to dance/till the white day is done”. By dancing, the speaker reveals how he embraces his current situation. These words have a lot of symbolism. The Africans were enslaved by the “Whiteman” during that era, and the phrase “white day” may show symbolism implying that the “white man” dominates the day through controlling the activities of the slaves. The speaker is longing for the time when he will freely dance and when the day that is dominated by the white will be over. The line “then rest at cool evening, beneath a tall tree” indicates the yearning for the speaker to be free and do the activities that please him. The speaker reveals how he cannot do these things already but only dreams about them.

Hughes uses the phrase “Dark like me” to emphasise that he is not like others as he is of black or dark ethnicity, and this helps the reader understand why the speaker desires to do these carefree activities.