BY
C HUES
February 8, 2021
In “Dream Variations”, the speaker uses antithetical words to describe and contrast the daytime with the night, but also shows how both the night and the day are quintessential to one another. The day and night are two parts of one big cycle that endlessly repeat. These themes of day and night also extend to contrasting imagery of blackness and whiteness and the usage of syntax.[1]
The title of the poem, “Dream Variations” provides insight into the cyclical aspects of the poem. The word “Variation” means “a different form of something”.[2] In the poem, although night is shown to be opposite of day, the speaker also implies that night and day are yin and yang or two sides of the same coin. In the first stanza, the speaker initially discusses the idea of dancing in the day, and then ends the stanza with resting at night. The first two lines of the first stanza read, “To fling my arms wide / In some place of the sun”, and the last three lines of the first stanza say, “While night comes on gently / Dark like me—That is my dream!”[3] As soon as the second stanza begins, the beginning line from the first stanza is repeated at the very start of the second stanza: “To fling my arms wide”.[4] The lines are repeated because it is the start of a new day; night is simply a different form of day; night and day form a cycle that forever repeats. Night cannot exist without day, and day cannot exist without night. Thus, immediately after night “comes on gently”[5] in the first stanza, day begins with vigor in the second stanza. The first line from the initial stanza recurs as the first line in the following stanza because the “variations”[6] are not only the slight variations between the lines in the two stanzas, but the “variations” are also within the stanzas themselves. The variations are between night and day and how day shifts into night. This is further substantiated as the last lines in the second stanza read, “Night coming tenderly / Black like me.”[7] “Variation” can also mean “amount, rate, extent, or degree of change: a temperature variation of 40 [degrees] in a particular climate”.[8] In the poem, there is a variation as day becomes night; there is a change in the weather and degrees. The warmth of the sun contrasts the “cool evening”[9] that gradually transforms into night. Another definition of variations is “a solo dance”;[10] in the poem the speaker imagines dancing alone in the day: “To whirl and to dance / till the white day is done”.[11] A “variation” of these lines, “Dance! Whirl! Whirl!” appear in the second stanza. The origin of the word whirl is: “1250–1300; Middle English whirlen<Old Norse hvirfla to whirl, akin to Old English hwyrflung turning, revolving, hwyrfel circuit; see whorl”.[12] Synonyms for whirl include “revolve, twirl, wheel, spin, revolution”;[13] the speaker chooses to use the word “whirl”[14] because it supports the theme of the variations and cycles between night and day. Just as the Earth undergoes revolutions and turns day into night as it revolves around the Sun,[15] the speaker also spins in harmony and rhythm[16] with the day as it shifts into night.
The speaker uses opposing imagery from the day and night between the two stanzas. In the first lines of both stanzas, the speaker says, “To fling my arms wide”.[17] The word “fling” means “to throw, cast, or hurl with force or violence” or “to move (oneself) violently with impatience, contempt, or the like”;[18] these lines that start the day oppose the speaker’s thoughts of being able to “rest at cool evening”.[19] “Fling” can also mean “to involve oneself vigorously in an undertaking”;[20] the speaker is vividly and rigorously dancing and whirling the entire day. The speaker also describes the day as “quick”;[21] the quickness of the day is further supported by the word “fling”, since “fling” can mean “to move, do, or say something quickly”.[22] Also, the speaker describes the day as “white” in the first stanza; this is antithetical to night being described as “Dark” and “Black”.[23] Further, the speaker notes that the night is “Dark like me” and “Black like me”.[24] The speaker compares the blackness or darkness of the night with the concept of blackness as a racial identity. Although blackness or darkness has often been mischaracterized and wrongfully demonized throughout the world (and especially the United States), here Langston Hughes fully embraces blackness as a positive and peaceful presence through the words of the speaker. Hughes also could be using the words of the speaker to acknowledge both the white and black ancestry in his family and within the families of most African Americans in general,[25][26] and how whiteness and blackness are often contradicted but can actually co-exist within one entity.
Hughes uses alliteration[27] in the poem to give it a rhythm and flow that befits the dance of the day. He uses alliteration in the first stanza with the lines, “In some place of the sun”,[28] with a repetition of the word s, and the s-sounding letter “c” in the word place. Hughes uses alliteration again when he has the speaker say, “To whirl and to dance / Till the white day is done”.[29] There is a nearly incessant repetition of the letters “t” and “d” in the two lines. This alliteration repeats in the second stanza with the lines describing the day, “In the face of the sun / Dance! Whirl! Whirl! / Till the quick day is done.”[30] There is a repetition of words starting with “t”, “d” and “w”. When the lines transition into description of night, Hughes continues to use alliteration, but he decreases the pace and usage of it. He uses some alliteration or repetition of letters and sounds in the lines describing the night: “Beneath a tall tree”, “Dark like me—/That is my dream!”, “A tall, slim tree… / Night coming tenderly / Black like me.”[31] The letters “t”, “d”, and “m” repeat in the lines. The slight decrease in alliteration from night and day is done to show the contrast between the quickness of the day and the more relaxing pace of the night. Further, Hughes uses ellipsis[32] in a couple of the lines describing the transition into night to show that things are slowing down from the day: “Rest at pale evening… / A tall slim tree…”[33] These lines smoothly transition into “Night coming tenderly”[34] because the usage of the ellipsis grants some distance between words and sets a steady, easy pace. In contrast, exclamation marks are used repeatedly when describing how the speaker acts during the day: “Dance! Whirl! Whirl! / Till the quick day is done.”[35] Note the constant usage of prepositions[36] in the poem and the lack of subject usage. The poem starts with a preposition, “To fling my arms wide”.[37] The first four lines of the first stanza all start with prepositions: “To”, “In”, “To”, and “Till” (Until)”.[38] The usage of prepositions indicate that the speaker is dreaming or musing about what he will do instead of doing it in the moment. The speaker does not say, “I fling my arms wide” or “I whirl and dance”; they say, “To fling my arms wide” and “To whirl and to dance.”[39] The lack of a subject (and that there is no complete sentence in the entire poem)[40][41] further implies that the speaker is dreaming and imagining what he will do or wants to do during the day and night.
Ultimately, “Dream Variations” is an embrace and celebration of blackness, and the recognition that seemingly contrasting things (such as day and night or black and white) can coexist peacefully. “Dream Variations” uses themes of repetition throughout (alliteration, punctuation, sentence structure, and similar definitions of words) to convey the theme of unity and oneness between aspects of life that seem quite different. Thus, Hughes composes both stanzas and even several lines within the stanzas that are opposite, yet also alike.
[1] Dictionary.com. Syntax: Linguistics.
the study of the rules for the formation of grammatical sentences in a language.
the study of the patterns of formation of sentences and phrases from words. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/syntax?s=t . Accessed February 8, 2021.
[2] Dictionary.com. Variation. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/variation . Accessed February 8, 2021.
[3] The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 2005. Langston Hughes, Dream Variations. 1926. P 914.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Dictionary.com. Variation. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/variation . Accessed February 8, 2021.
[9] The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 2005. Langston Hughes, Dream Variations. 1926. P 914.
[10] Dictionary.com. Variation. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/variation . Accessed February 8, 2021.
[11] The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 2005. Langston Hughes, Dream Variations. 1926. P 914.
[12] Dicitionary.com. Whirl. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/whirl?s=t . Accessed February 8, 2021.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Dicitionary.com. Whirl. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/whirl?s=t . Accessed February 8, 2021.
[15] Dictionary.com. Revolution. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/revolution?s=t. Accessed February 8, 2021.
[16] Dictionary.com. Variation. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/variation . Accessed February 8, 2021.
[17] The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 2005. Langston Hughes, Dream Variations. 1926. P 914.
[18] Dictionary.com. Fling. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/fling# . Accessed February 8, 2021.
[19] The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 2005. Langston Hughes, Dream Variations. 1926. P 914.
[20] Dictionary.com. Fling. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/fling# . Accessed February 8, 2021.
[21] The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 2005. Langston Hughes, Dream Variations. 1926. P 914.
[22] Dictionary.com. Fling. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/fling# . Accessed February 8, 2021.
[23] The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 2005. Langston Hughes, Dream Variations. 1926. P 914.
[24] Ibid.
[25] Langston Hughes: Before and Beyond Harlem ; a Biography. 1983. 1992. Faith Berry. Carol Publishing Group. A Citadel Press Book. Chapter 1, p 1-2.
[26] The Genetic Ancestry of African Americans, Latinos, and European Americans across the United States.
Katarzyna Bryc, Eric Y. Durand, J. Michael Macpherson, David Reich, and Joanna L. Mountain. Am J Hum Genet. 2015 Jan 8; 96(1): 37–53. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.11.010. PMCID: PMC4289685. PMID: 25529636. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4289685/ .
[27] Dictionary.com. Alliteration: the commencement of two or more words of a word group with the same letter, as in apt alliteration’s artful aid.
the commencement of two or more stressed syllables of a word group either with the same consonant sound or sound group (consonantal alliteration ), as in from stem to stern, or with a vowel sound that may differ from syllable to syllable (vocalic alliteration ), as in each to all. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/alliteration# . Accessed February 8, 2021.
[28] The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 2005. Langston Hughes, Dream Variations. 1926. P 914.
[29] Ibid.
[30] Ibid.
[31] Ibid.
[32] Dictionary.com. Ellipsis: Printing. a mark or marks as ——, …, or * * *, to indicate an omission or suppression of letters or words. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/ellipsis?s=t . Accessed February 8, 2021.
[33] The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 2005. Langston Hughes, Dream Variations. 1926. P 914.
[34] Ibid.
[35] Ibid.
[36] Dictionary.com. Preposition: any member of a class of words found in many languages that are used before nouns, pronouns, or other substantives to form phrases functioning as modifiers of verbs, nouns, or adjectives, and that typically express a spatial, temporal, or other relationship, as in, on, by, to, since. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/preposition?s=t . Accessed February 8, 2021.
[37] The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 2005. Langston Hughes, Dream Variations. 1926. P 914.
[38] The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 2005. Langston Hughes, Dream Variations. 1926. P 914.
[39] Ibid.
[40] Dictionary.com. Subject: Grammar. (in English and many other languages) a syntactic unit that functions as one of the two main constituents of a simple sentence, the other being the predicate, and that consists of a noun, noun phrase, or noun substitute which often refers to the one performing the action or being in the state expressed by the predicate, as He in He gave notice. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/subject?s=t. February 8, 2021.
[41] The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 2005. Langston Hughes, Dream Variations. 1926. P 914.