Just to add to the answer above, we might say that the
dream that Hughes refers to is the dream of achieving equality and freedom as a black
man in a racist society. There is no direct statement of this, but there are telling
references to being black.
In a particularly effective
touch, the line 'I am black' occurs almost in the centre of the poem, at the point of
the speaker's deepest despair when the wall that shuts out his dream reaches its
greatest height, leaving him to 'lie down in its shadow.' This wall, of course, can
symbolize the racist barriers in society which deny people like Hughes their early
hopes. In his youth, the speaker started out with such dreams, but is thwarted for a
time by social oppression. However, as he becomes more mature, he once again takes up
the dream, willing his 'dark hands' to smash through the barriers of racial injustice
and oppression and to once again let in the light, the 'sun.'
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