POEM 1 : I DREAM A WORLD by Langston Hughes

POEM 1 :  I DREAM A WORLD   by Langston Hughes

OUTLINE OF THE ESSAY:

*INTRODUCTION

*WORLD WITHOUT DISCRIMINATION

*WORLD WITH FREEDOM

*WORLD WITH EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

*WORLD WITHOUT WRETCHEDNESS

*CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION:  James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet.  He was born on 1^st February, 1902.  He died on 22^nd May, 1967.  He was a Social Activist, Playwright and Novelist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form called Jazz poetry.  The poet dreams of a world.  The world must be a place for every man to live without any racial boundaries.  There should be harmony and freedom in that world.  The poem is an example of personification.  The poet has used abstract nouns.  They enhance our mind to connect ideas and images.  We are made to think deeper of the true meaning.

WORLD WITHOUT DISCRIMINATION:  In the first four lines of the poet Hughes dreams of a world where man lives in harmony with other men.  In this world no one looks down on anyone else.  The poet wishes that love and peace should rule his dream world.  We know that in the real world men do look down upon other men.  This was especially in terms of skin colour.  The white people in America of the early twentieth century considered the coloured peoples as second-class citizens.  This created hatred instead of love among people.  The poet hated this.

WORLD WITH FREEDOM:  The poet dreams of a world in which everyone will both want, and have, freedom.In this dream world greed and materialism will no longer ruin humanity.  In the real world only certain men enjoy freedom of choices.  Such men exploit the other men. This makes the poet feel unhappy.

  WORLD WITH EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES:  Hughes says that in his dream world all races will have equal opportunities for success.  In the real world things are different.  Most white educational institutions, work places and entertainment centres do not allow coloured peoples to enter. 

WORLD WITHOUT WRETCHEDNESS:  Hughes dreams of a world where wretchedness has departed from the lives of men.  He wants joy to come and reside in its place.  But we know that such a world can only exist in a dream-vision.  At the same time, the poem makes us get optimistic thinking of getting a good and happy world.

CONCLUSION:  Hughes believed that all races were equal and deserved to be treated with the same amount of respect.  This is what he upholds in his poem ‘I Dream a World.’ The dream is not only the poet’s dream; it is the dream of everyone in this world of suffering.