Harlem
Eleven lines ask what happens to a dream deferred and answer only with further questions: whether it dries up like a raisin in the sun, festers like a sore, stinks like rotten meat, or sags like a heavy load. The last line stands alone, set in italics. From Montage of a Dream Deferred, a book-length sequence built on the broken rhythms of bebop, and the most quoted short poem in African American verse.
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Lineage
- contained in ↑ Montage of a Dream Deferred
- ↓ A Raisin in the Sun
Attributes
Genre
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
Plot structure
Conflict
Culture / tradition
Closest analogues
- 76% · 12 shared
- 73% · 11 shared
- 65% · 9 shared
- 61% · 10 shared
- 61% · 10 shared
- 61% · 8 shared