Hughes, Langston. "Dream Variations".

Summary and Analysis

A rhymed poem. Its short lines give a fragmentary impression which is in a perfect accordance with the quality of the described dream. There are recurrent motifs of colour: "white day", "pale evening", "dark" and "black" night, the latter being compared to the colour of the speaker's skin.

The speaker describes the dream which he dreams, it is rather a day dreaming than a dream which would come to him in his sleep. He is obsessed with the colour and seems to object to the sun and the "white day". He wishes to stand on the sun and dance a wild dance, fling his arms, and whirl as long as the day is white. Then in the evening he would rest beneath a tall tree (suggests shade, i.e. dark colour) and welcome the coming tender night.

The concept of the day is rather negative, the night is positive, and above all the colour of the night is the same black as his skin.