Harlem

By Langston Hughes

Langston Hugh's poem Harlem is short, yet full of emotion. He writes about hopes that are shattered and crushed, and how they can lead to life-changing events. The main stanza of the poem has rhyme scheme of abcbded. Harlem is not broken up into standard stanzas, however. The first stanza consists of only one line, the second stanza is the longest and has the rhyme scheme, the third stanza is only two lines, and the fourth stanza is one line. He also uses anaphora. In the second stanza, or and does are repeated as part of the question: what happens to a dream deferred? Also, the last line of stanza three rhymes with stanza four.