a difficult thing to endure

I have chosen to examine a couplet from Langston Hughes’ poem “Harlem.”

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

The first line in the poem states “what happens to a dream differed?” giving us a clear idea of what the poem is about (postponed dreams). As we read through the rest of the poem we know that the speaker has a negative connotation towards these postponed dreams. He uses multiple questions and similies in order to leave the answer to his dream deferred question open ended and open to interpretation. In lines nine and ten, Hughes does not pose a question like throughout the rest of the poem; he gives us a suggestion of what a deferred dream could be related to. He calls it a “heavy load” that “sags.” This gave me images of high school with my fifty pound backpack dragging me down as I hiked the one hundred or so stairs to get to homeroom every morning. My backpack was a “heavy load” and was burdensome and painful and most of all obnoxious. This got me to thinking about what Hughes was trying to convey through this couplet. To me, he is saying that delayed dreams will weigh on your mind for as long as they go unaccomplished. This eventually becomes tiring and discouraging to one’s morale. It is also referring to the little voice in the back of your head saying “what-if” and reminding you of what could have been. Deferred dreams are difficult to deal with especially when they “sag like a heavy load.” Hughes is attempting to encourage us to go after our dreams because if we do not, we will forever regret it.