A  Dream  Deferred  lesson  plan  

Introduction  

Ask  the  students  if  they  know  of  a  civil  rights  struggle  either  going  on  now  or  
from  the  past.  Examples  could  include:  women's  rights;  apartheid  in  South  
Africa;  Tibet;  homosexual  couples.  If  the  civil  rights  movement  in  the  US  is  not  
mentioned  try  and  elicit  it.  Ask  if  any  of  these  groups  won  their  civil  rights  
instantly  or  had  them  postponed  or  deferred  by  those  in  charge.  Why  would  
governments  defer  these  rights?  

Development  

Tell  the  students  they  are  going  to  read  a  poem  by  Langston  Hughes.  He  was  an  
African  American  poet  who  was  very  prominent  in  the  1920s  and  1930s  in  the  
Harlem  area  of  New  York  in  the  USA.  

Ask  the  students  if  they  know  what  life  was  like  for  most  African  Americans  in  
the  US  at  that  time.  What  rights  did  they  not  have?  (All  aspects  of  life  were  
segregated  -­‐  school,  housing,  public  transport,  sports.  In  the  southern  states  
especially  this  was  sometimes  brutally  enforced.)  

The  name  of  the  poem  is  'A  Dream  Deferred.'  What  do  you  think  the  'dream'  is?  
What  was  Martin  Luther  King  Junior's  'dream'?  Why  was  this  dream  'deferred'  
for  so  long?  

Put  the  students  in  pairs  and  give  them  copies  of  the  11  lines  of  the  poem.  Tell  
them  the  first  line  of  the  poem  and  tell  them  to  put  the  rest  in  order.  After  five  
minutes  read  the  poem  together.  

Grammar  and  punctuation    

1. What  verbs  are  used?  (defer,  dry  up,  fester,  run,  stink,  crust,  sugar  over,  sag,  
explode)  
2. What  nouns  are  used?  (raisin,  sun,  sore,  meat,  sweet,  load,  dream)  
3. What  adjectives  are  used?  (rotten,  syrupy,  heavy)  
4. How  does  this  language  contrast  with  the  main  verb,  'dream'?  
5. Why  does  Hughes  twice  use  a  dash  (-­‐)?  (Perhaps  to  indicate  that  
something  will  happen  suddenly  and  unexpectedly).  Compare  dashes  with  
hyphens  ('an  award-­‐winning  author...')  

Poetical  devices  

1. What  is  a  simile?  (a  comparison  of  one  thing  with  a  different  thing,  usually  
by  using  'like'  or  'as')  
2. What  similes  does  Hughes  use  in  the  poem?  
3. What  do  the  similes  have  in  common?  (1)  Colour  -­‐  dark  brown  and  red.  2)  
Physical  characteristics  -­‐  all  either  ugly,  displeasing  or  dead.)  Ask  students  

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to  write  three  similes  using  'like'  to  describe  a  beautiful  person.  For  
example,  'His  hair  is  like  the  mane  of  a  lion';  'Her  eyes  are  like  two  
sparkling  diamonds,'  etc.  Listen  to  some  examples  as  a  class.  Then  ask  
students  to  write  three  similes  using  'like'  to  describe  a  disgusting  house.  
For  example,  'The  living  room  looked  like  a  ______,'  'The  toilet  smelt  like  a  
_______,'  etc.    
4. Why  does  Hughes  choose  the  colours  red  and  brown?  (They  bring  to  mind  
the  lashing  of  African  American  slaves  -­‐  brown  skin  and  red  blood)  
5. What  is  alliteration?  (The  occurrence  of  the  same  letter  or  sound  at  the  
beginning  of  adjacent  or  closely  connected  words)  
6. Find  examples  of  alliteration  in  the  poem.  (A  Dream  Deferred;  a  
raisin  in  the  sun;  like  a  syrupy  sweet;)    

Main  activity  

Tell  the  students  they  are  going  to  write  a  poem  using  the  structure  of  'A  Dream  
Deferred.'  Ask  them  to  think  of  a  dream  that  has  been  'deferred.'  It  could  be  
something  past  or  present,  something  important  to  them  or  important  to  other  
people,  something  global  or  something  local,  a  serious  topic  or  something  more  
lighthearted.  Ask  students  to  first  list  verbs,  nouns  and  adjectives  that  they  might  
use  in  similes  in  order  to  create  a  coherent  image  and  colour  scheme  and  then  
write  the  poem.  

Example  one  

Dream  deferred:  England  winning  the  World  Cup  

Verbs:  lose,  draw,  miss,  misplace,  fail,  cry,  foul,  tackle,  whistle,  boo,  cling,  chill,  
ache,  sting  
Nouns:  pitch,  mud,  grass,  tears,  sweat,  saliva,  studs,  shin,  penalty  shootout,  
concussion  
Adjectives:  muddy,  wet,  cold,  slow  

Example  two  

Dream  deferred:  Scottish  independence  

Verbs:  drag,  gust,  howl,  blow,  freeze,  crack,  soak,  blind,  disorientate  
Nouns:  wind,  storm,  snow,  rain,  hail,  mountains,  hills,  tundra  
Adjectives:  cold,  wet,  icy,  chilly,  freezing,  frozen  

 
 

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