Poem of the Week:
Dreams
by Langston Hughes
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For if they go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
Response:
My first response to this poem is that it sends a belief of Langston Hughes that there is a reason that we dream. After reading this poem, I think to myself that my creativity and the direction I want to go in life is very much an inspiration of my dreams. It is hard to imagine that my mind can create so many emotion filled dreams and they all feel like real life. I have had dreams where I have woken up sweating, panting and trying to catch my breath because I thought my dad and I were being chased by car by people who wanted to kill us. I'll admit that I had a dream where I kissed my crush at the time in 4th grade. It might seem trivial but that dream made me so happy that I remember exactly how it felt in the dream to this day. I have also had dreams in which I visit places of the past of where I have been and those are actually sad dreams because I go around and most of the time those buildings are empty with not a soul around and I wonder where everyone is at.
This poem, like a lot of other poems, is simple genius because there are only two stanzas and two rhymes that explain just how important dreams are. The way I interpret the two metaphors is that your life will be dull, depressing and lifeless if you do not hold on to your dreams and try to achieve them if it is a goal. This poem has a very serious but also optimistic tone because it compares a life without dreams to two very harsh images yet at the same time makes light of them both by adding playful rhymes to them and giving the reader something positive to think about.
