Dreams Summary & Analysis

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"Dreams" is an early poem by American poet Langston Hughes, one of the leading figures of the 1920s arts and literary movement known as the Harlem Renaissance. Originally published in the magazine The World Tomorrow in 1923, it explores themes that would echo throughout Hughes's work: the sustaining power of dreams (especially in the face of difficult realities) and the problems that arise when dreams are thwarted or abandoned. Its two short stanzas deliver an urgent warning never to let dreams die.

The Full Text of “Dreams”

1 Hold fast to dreams

2 For if dreams die

3 Life is a broken-winged bird

4 That cannot fly.

5 Hold fast to dreams

6 For when dreams go

7 Life is a barren field

8 Frozen with snow.

The Full Text of “Dreams”

1 Hold fast to dreams

2 For if dreams die

3 Life is a broken-winged bird

4 That cannot fly.

5 Hold fast to dreams

6 For when dreams go

7 Life is a barren field

8 Frozen with snow.

“Dreams” Summary

“Dreams” Themes

The Necessity of Dreams

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Dreams”

Lines 1-2

Lines 3-4

Lines 5-6

Lines 7-8

“Dreams” Symbols

The Broken-Winged Bird

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The Frozen Field

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“Dreams” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

Metaphor

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Alliteration

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Assonance

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Repetition

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Enjambment

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“Dreams” Vocabulary

• Fast
• Broken-winged
• Barren

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Dreams”

Form

Meter

Rhyme Scheme

“Dreams” Speaker

“Dreams” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Dreams”

More “Dreams” Resources

External Resources

• The Poem Out Loud — Watch Dr. Christopher Emdin of Columbia University read "Dreams" aloud and explain what the poem means to him as an educator.
• "Dream Variations" at the Academy of American Poets — Read another famous Hughes poem about dreams, one that engages with racial divisions and describes the speaker's own liberating dream.
• Jazz Poetry — A brief guide to the innovative style that Hughes and other Harlem Renaissance writers developed in their work.
• "How Langston Hughes’s Dreams Inspired MLK’s" — Read about connections between Langston Hughes's poetry and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s oratory, including his 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech.
• The Harlem Renaissance — Learn more about the cultural and artistic movement Hughes helped pioneer.

LitCharts on Other Poems by Langston Hughes

• As I Grew Older
• Aunt Sue's Stories
• Cross
• Daybreak in Alabama
• Democracy
• Dream Variations
• Harlem
• Homecoming
• I Look at the World
• I, Too
• Let America Be America Again
• Mother to Son
• Night Funeral in Harlem
• The Ballad of the Landlord
• Theme for English B
• The Negro Speaks of Rivers
• The Weary Blues

1 Hold fast to dreams

2 For if dreams die

3 Life is a broken-winged bird

4 That cannot fly.

5 Hold fast to dreams

6 For when dreams go

7 Life is a barren field

8 Frozen with snow.

Lines 3-4

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