The American poet Langston Hughes originally published "Dream Variations" in his 1926 collection titled The Weary Blues. The poem's speaker dreams of dancing through the "white day" before resting at night, which is as "dark" as the speaker himself. The speaker’s "dreams" can be read as a metaphor for Black joy and Black survival: through his dancing, the speaker finds joy and freedom in spite of white society’s oppressive gaze, as well as a sense of belonging, safety, and shared identity in the Black community.
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The Full Text of “Dream Variations”
1To fling my arms wide
2In some place of the sun,
3To whirl and to dance
4Till the white day is done.
5Then rest at cool evening
6Beneath a tall tree
7While night comes on gently,
8 Dark like me—
9That is my dream!
10To fling my arms wide
11In the face of the sun,
12Dance! Whirl! Whirl!
13Till the quick day is done.
14Rest at pale evening . . .
15A tall, slim tree . . .
16Night coming tenderly
17 Black like me.
The Full Text of “Dream Variations”
1To fling my arms wide
2In some place of the sun,
3To whirl and to dance
4Till the white day is done.
5Then rest at cool evening
6Beneath a tall tree
7While night comes on gently,
8 Dark like me—
9That is my dream!
10To fling my arms wide
11In the face of the sun,
12Dance! Whirl! Whirl!
13Till the quick day is done.
14Rest at pale evening . . .
15A tall, slim tree . . .
16Night coming tenderly
17 Black like me.
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“Dream Variations” Summary
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“Dream Variations” Themes
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Resisting Racist Oppression
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Black Art, Joy, and Survival
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Dream Variations”
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Lines 1-2
To fling my arms wide
In some place of the sun, -
Lines 3-4
To whirl and to dance
Till the white day is done. -
Lines 5-6
Then rest at cool evening
Beneath a tall tree -
Lines 7-9
While night comes on gently,
Dark like me—
That is my dream! -
Lines 10-11
To fling my arms wide
In the face of the sun, -
Lines 12-13
Dance! Whirl! Whirl!
Till the quick day is done. -
Lines 14-15
Rest at pale evening . . .
A tall, slim tree . . . -
Lines 16-17
Night coming tenderly
Black like me.
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“Dream Variations” Symbols
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Dancing
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The Tree
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“Dream Variations” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Metaphor
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Simile
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Anaphora
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Parallelism
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Juxtaposition
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Imagery
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End-Stopped Line
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Alliteration
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Consonance
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Assonance
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“Dream Variations” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Variations
- Fling
- Whirl
- Pale
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Dream Variations”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Dream Variations” Speaker
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“Dream Variations” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Dream Variations”
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More “Dream Variations” Resources
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External Resources
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The Jazz Aesthetic — Read about the jazz aesthetic that Hughes pioneered: a form of poetry that draws on the musical traditions of jazz and the blues.
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Smithsonian Article on Black Like Me — Learn about Black Like Me, the 1961 nonfiction work by John Howard Griffin that takes its title from the last line of "Dream Variations." In the book, Griffin, who was white, documents his experiences traveling through the segregated American South while passing as Black.
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A Biography of Langston Hughes — Learn about Langston Hughes's life and work in this biographical article from the Poetry Foundation.
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The Weary Blues — Learn more about The Weary Blues, the 1926 collection that included "Dream Variations," in this essay by contemporary American poet Kevin Young.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Langston Hughes
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