Poems

Ariel

Evan

Suinn

Mike




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 when dreams go

Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.


The speaker of the poem is a wise person or a dreamer. The speaker is communicating that if you don’t have any dreams to follow, life will be unfulfilling. In the poem, the speaker starts off every line the same way except the last line of each stanza. He is comparing life to something that can’t go anywhere. “Life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly” and “Life is a barren field frozen with snow” are examples of what the speaker is comparing life to without any dreams. When Hughes says that “Life is a broken-winged bird”, he means that life would be unfulfilling for a bird without wings just as life would be unfulfilling to a person without dreams.


The meaning of this poem to hang on to what you have and make the most of it. When Hughes says “Life is a barren field, frozen with snow”, he means that a barren field is of no use. When he says “Hold fast to dreams” he means that you should never let go of your dreams because without dreams, you would have no motivation to live your life and life would be plain without them. The meaning of the poem is to always have dreams.