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I'll concentrate more on my work," W. H. Auden – September 1, 1939

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The tone implies that “my work” is meaningless; something to concentrate on but with no indication of self-belief or moral commitment.

In Chris Hedge’s lecture “The Death of the Liberal Class” he quotes the last stanza of this poem. In his essay “The Careerists” he writes (partly inspired by Auden) the following:

These armies of bureaucrats serve a corporate system that will quite literally kill us. … The state moves inexorably forward to place us in chains. The sick die. The poor starve. The prisons fill. And the careerist, plodding forward, does his or her job.

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Lest we should see where we are,
Lost in a haunted wood,
Children afraid of the night
Who have never been happy or good. W. H. Auden – September 1, 1939

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They’re here at the bar to escape and ignore the menacing reality they live in. Put another way: they’re drinking and dancing away the terror of living in the early days of World War II.

In reminding Americans that we “have never been happy or good,” Auden suggests complicity, however seemingly remote, in the kind of global political corruption that sparks world wars.

The “haunted wood” suggests a folk-tale like Hansel and Gretel, and implies immaturity and deliberate unwillingness to grasp reality.

These lines also have a religious import, referencing the concept of original sin. The confidence and innocence of the Garden of Eden is believed by Auden never to have existed, hence the fear the children feel and the fact that they have never been innocent.

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Accurate scholarship can
Unearth the whole offence
From Luther until now
That has driven a culture mad, W. H. Auden – September 1, 1939

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Likely a reference to On the Jews and Their Lies by Martin Luther, a vicious and violently anti-Semitic treatise frequently carried at Nazi rallies.

Auden indicates that Luther’s famous anti-Jewish words — firing up hatred and urging their homes and houses of worship be destroyed — mark the beginning of modern-day anti-Semitism and a starting-point for the German identity that underpinned Nazism.

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319,006

2 years

@jeromemegna I agree and have edited the annotation.

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3 years

“Implies” and “suggesting” are not strong enough words in what Luther said. He was an out-and-out anti-Semite.

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As the clever hopes expire
Of a low dishonest decade: W. H. Auden – September 1, 1939

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The 1930s were filled with political turmoil across Europe and Asia (Spanish Civil War, Nazi militarism, Japanese atrocities in China, etc). The anxiety seeped into the literary world.

The meter here compels the reader to pronounce “decade” with a slight stress on the second syllable as well as a full stress on the first (i.e. as something like a spondee), even though this is nonstandard pronunciation in both British and American English. “Decade” thus serves as a rhyme for “afraid” above. It can’t be pronounced without a slightly greater stress on the first syllable, so the line ends with a kind of anticlimactic falling-off, perhaps mirroring the bad end of the decade itself.

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Hold fast to dreams,
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird Langston Hughes – Dreams

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If you don’t passionately follow your dreams, aspirations, and beliefs, then how are you ever supposed to get your life off the ground?

The word “dreams” was central to Langston Hughes' poetry: in all their many “variations” (deferred, broken, maintained, achieved), they crop up constantly throughout his work. See for example:

His emphasis influenced, among others, Martin Luther King, Jr., whose “I Have a Dream” speech and other oratory further elaborates the “deeply rooted” connection between the African-American dream of equality and the American dream as a whole.

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100

1 year

The three lines highlighted here in Langstons poem compares a life with no dreams like a life of a bird with a broken wing. He uses this metaphor to say that dreams are essential to life the way wings are to a bird. Without dreams there can be not growth or aspirations like a bird who doesn’t have the ability to fly.

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185

1 year

All in all I think the purpose or focus of this poem is the reader to not give up on a dream. How can we when dreams are really all we have. Dreams are the basis for any successful idea. Hughes reminds us that we must hold fast to the dreams we may have. Using simile’s and metaphors we can get the purpose of these poem that dreams are worth keeping alive

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185

1 year

When Hughes describes that life is a broken winged bird. The winged bird i think represents what happens if a dream is lost. Hughes uses a simile a lot to describe his point.

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185

1 year

The phrase “Hold fast to dreams”, Hughes is eluding to that a dream is very important. Once you lose your dream life can feel broken or have no purpose.

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100

3 years

Langston Hughes wrote “Dreams” to show how if you don’t hold onto your dreams life isn’t worth living. He says how if you let your dreams go, then life is like a “barren field”. You need to have some sort of passion or dream in life or else life is just too boring and there’s nothing to life. You aren’t truly living if you don’t have dreams. When he starts off with “hold fast” it emphasizes the importance of dreams and grabs the readers attention. When he goes onto say “for if dreams die” it creates a dramatic road into the sad tone he creates when describing what happens when your dreams die. Saying that life is like a broken winged bird who cannot fly, which is a very sad image that is placed into the readers head. He then repeats the same thing and compares life to a barren field frozen with snow, showing how without dreams life is so barren and empty. Without a passion or dream, life is a sad and empty place. Without a dream you have no motivation to live your life the way you wish to, which is the whole point of the poem.

Langston Hughes wrote "Dreams" to show how if you don't hold onto your dreams life isn't worth living. He says how if you let your dreams go, then life is like a "barren field". You need to have some sort of passion or dream in life or else life is just too boring and there's nothing to life. You aren't truly living if you don't have dreams. When he starts off with "hold fast" it emphasizes the importance of dreams and grabs the readers attention. When he goes onto say "for if dreams die" it creates a dramatic road into the sad tone he creates when describing what happens when your dreams die. Saying that life is like a broken winged bird who cannot fly, which is a very sad image that is placed into the readers head. He then repeats the same thing and compares life to a barren field frozen with snow, showing how without dreams life is so barren and empty. Without a passion or dream, life is a sad and empty place. Without a dream you have no motivation to live your life the way you wish to, which is the whole point of the poem.

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100

3 years

Hughes starts off the poem by implying that you need to capitalize on your opportunities or dreams because sometimes you may not have a long time to make something happen. When he compares dead dreams to the life of a broken winged bird he is saying that you won’t go anywhere in life if you don’t chase your dreams, just like the bird won’t be able to go anywhere really because of a broken wing.

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130

3 years

“Hold fast” is a command to the reader and is a startling way to open a poem. It is used as a device to emphasize the importance of the dreams before there is any explanation why. Both stanzas utilize metaphors. In this stanza life is said to be ‘a broken winged bird’ The obvious message of the poem is to hold on to your dreams. Hughes uses this dire imagery of a broken winged bird to raise the question: “what can a bird do if it has no wings?” and the more important question “what can a person do if they have no dreams?” This metaphor is a great device to suggest that dreams create purpose in life and people need those goals and aspirations to keep them moving forward.

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As You Like It Act 2 Scene 6 William Shakespeare – As You Like It Act 2 Scene 6

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Old Adam tells Orlando he is too weak to go further and is on the point of death. Orlando urges him to take heart, stay optimistic, and keep moving onward. Adam finds the strength to do so and the two continue their journey.

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As You Like It Act 2 Scene 3 William Shakespeare – As You Like It Act 2 Scene 3

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The faithful servant Adam informs Orlando that his older brother Oliver means to kill him, and urges him to flee the house. Orlando protests, asking how he is supposed to live without a home. Adam gives him a gift of five hundred crowns (five-shilling coins) that he’s saved during his years of service to Orlando’s father. Orlando thanks Adam profusely and invites him to come along on the road, which he does.

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As You Like It Act 1 Scene 2 William Shakespeare – As You Like It Act 1 Scene 2

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In this scene we meet Rosalind, one of Shakespeare’s greatest and most complicated heroines. We also meet her spirited sidekick, Celia, and–by scene’s end–the young, handsome, athletic Orlando, who quickly becomes our heroine’s love interest.

Full scene summary via Hudson Shakespeare Company:

Duke Frederick’s daughter, Celia, attempts to cheer her cousin, Rosalind, who is depressed over her father’s banishment, by promising her own friendship and loyalty. Touchstone, the court jester, arrives and jokes on knightly honor. A foppish courtier, Le Beau, appears and reports that the wrestler Charles has brutally killed several opponents. He says that the matches are to be resumed on the site where they are speaking. The Duke’s court arrives, accompanying by Charles and Orlando. Rosalind and Celia, taken by Orlando’s youth and beauty, attempt to dissuade him from wrestling, but he insists on challenging Charles. They wrestle, and Orlando wins. When Orlando identifies himself, the Duke refuses to give him the promised prize because Orlando’s father had opposed his usurpation. The Duke and his followers leave, but Celia and Rosalind remain and congratulate Orlando. Rosalind is clearly lovestruck, giving Orlando her necklace and attempting to converse further, but the tongue-tied Orlando cannot respond, as he laments once they are gone. Le Beau returns to warn Orlando that the temperamental Duke intends evil towards him. Orlando asks him about Rosalind’s identity before fleeing.

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http://images.rapgenius.com/3246c1bfc88e775619201d985fc7b46b.400x249x1.jpg

In this scene we meet Rosalind, one of Shakespeare's greatest and most complicated heroines. We also meet her spirited sidekick, Celia, and--by scene's end--the young, handsome, athletic Orlando, who quickly becomes our heroine's love interest.

Full scene summary via [Hudson Shakespeare Company:](http://hudsonshakespeare.org/Shakespeare%20Library/Synopsis/synopsis_as.htm)

Duke Frederick's daughter, Celia, attempts to cheer her cousin, Rosalind, who is depressed over her father's banishment, by promising her own friendship and loyalty. Touchstone, the court jester, arrives and jokes on knightly honor.  A foppish courtier, Le Beau, appears and reports that the wrestler Charles has brutally killed several opponents.  He says that the matches are to be resumed on the site where they are speaking.  The Duke's court arrives, accompanying by Charles and Orlando.  Rosalind and Celia, taken by Orlando's youth and beauty, attempt to dissuade him from wrestling, but he insists on challenging Charles.  They wrestle, and Orlando wins.  When Orlando identifies himself, the Duke refuses to give him the promised prize because Orlando's father had opposed his usurpation.  The Duke and his followers leave, but Celia and Rosalind remain and congratulate Orlando.  Rosalind is clearly lovestruck, giving Orlando her necklace and attempting to converse further, but the tongue-tied Orlando cannot respond, as he laments once they are gone.  Le Beau returns to warn Orlando that the temperamental Duke intends evil towards him.  Orlando asks him about Rosalind's identity before fleeing.

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While I nodded, nearly napping, Edgar Allan Poe – The Raven

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Refers to that motion your head makes when you’re falling asleep while sitting up, i.e., “nodding off.” The scientific name for this is a “hypnic jerk,” a form of myoclonus.

This introduces a dream-like state the narrator is in, creating a setting removed from reality.

Here as often thoughout the poem, there is some noticable alliteration.

The hypnopompic state is the twilight consciousness between sleeping and waking. It’s as close as we can come to dreaming while awake. Except the hypnogogic state, between waking and sleeping. It is the later state that Poe describes.

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