The poem, "Dream Deferred", which was written by Langston Hughes in 1951 , described the trials that minorities in that time period underwent. Hughes uses heavy symbolism and imagery in this poem. The dream he discussed in the poem was futile at the time of his writing of the poem. In the poem, "Dream Deferred", the author uses a significant amount of symbolism to express the broken dream of racial equality. The question Hughes poses in line one, "What happens to a dream deferred?" sets the environment for the plot and symbolism of the rest of the poem. As Hughes answers the question, he asks if a dream deferred dries up like a raisin