~We have tomorrow right before us like a flame.~
LANGSTON HUGHES

(1902-1967)

~Dream Deferred~

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore--
and then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load

 Or does it just explode?

LANGSTON HUGHES, was part of the Harlem Renaissance and was known during 
his lifetime as "the poet laureate of Harlem,"  He also worked as a journalist,
dramatist, and children's author.  His poems, which tell of the joys and 
miseries of the ordinary black man in America, have been widely translated.

James Langston Hughes was born on Feb. 1, 1902, in Joplin, Mo. In 1921 he
enrolled at Columbia University in New York City but he was so lonely and 
unhappy that he left after a year.

He worked at various jobs, including that of a seaman, traveling to Africa 
and Europe.  His first book of poetry, 'The Weary Blues', published in 1926,
made him well known among literary people.  He went on to Lincoln University
in Oxford, Pa., on a scholarship and received his B.A. degree there in 1929.

From then on Hughes earned his living as a writer, portraying black life in
the United States with idiomatic realism.  'Not without Laughter', a novel
published in 1930, won him the Harmon god medal for literature.  A book of 
poems for children, 'The Dream Keeper', came out in 1932.  In 1934 appeared
'The Ways of White Folk's', a collection of short stories.  His play 'Mulatto'
opened on Broadway in 1935. He wrote the lyrics for 'Street Scene', a 1947 
opera by Kurt Weill.  Hughes also lectured in schools and colleges, where he
talked with black youth who had literary ability and encouraged them to write.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Hughes's work included a volume of poetry,
'Montage of a Dream Differed', published in 1951; of short stories, 
'Laughing to Keep from Crying' (1952); and a children's picture book
titled 'Black Misery'(1969), which wryly illustrates what it is like 
to grow up black in the United States.  

Langston Hughes died of Lung Cancer, in New York City, in 1967.

Hughes: The Shakesphere of Harlem
Works of Langston Hughes
The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes                                             
Homepage from Boyhood Town of Lawrence,KS                                                   
Important dates and events in Hughes life
Poet's Corner - Langston Hughes - selected works
Not So simple: The "Simple" Stories by Langton Hughes
Langston Hughes: A voice of many generations                   

Secret Walk                             


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