The author of this poem is speaking of a deferred dream and asking questions as to what happens to it.  According to research, this was during a time of limited rights and segregation for African Americans in the United States.  Many people think he is addressing the limitations of the American Dream that African Americans faced at this time. In fact, this poem was written only 3 years before Brown versus Board of Education. During this time Harlem was a place full of art, music, and opportunity and many African Americans saw this as a safe place.  However, during the great Depression Harlem became a place of poverty. Many interpretations believe that the writer is speaking of the hopes he and other African Americans had in Harlem before the Great Depression hit. This is why he talks of a dream no longer possible-- he conveys, sadness, anger, and hopelessness. He invokes all senses almost as if it is decaying and the reader is experiencing that.  The anger behind this poem expresses that the writer may have experienced these things. He doesn’t ever specifically talk about one dream so it’s right to categorize this as a dream amongst multiple people. He shows hopelessness in a way that their dream may never fully develop and will lay stagnant for so long they even “explode”. This means the author believes that a dream doesn’t just disappear is slowly fades until it is gone.

What happens to a dream deferred?

      Does it dry up

      like a raisin in the sun?

      Or fester like a sore—

      And then run?

      Does it stink like rotten meat?

      Or crust and sugar over—

      like a syrupy sweet?

      Maybe it just sags

      like a heavy load.

      Or does it explode?