"Dream Deferred" Langston Hughes

The author of this poem, Langston Hughes, is a poet of the Harlem renaissance. His African American background and the time in which he wrote this poem may suggest that this dream had something to do with the obstacles he faced because of his race. He starts the poem out with a question: "What happens to a dream deferred?" Then he goes on to explain different outcomes, personifying the dream, which makes this an apostrophe as well. He says it could "dry up like a raisin" and possibilites will dwindle. It could "fester like a sore," where anger just keeps building and building. It could "stink like rotten meat" and linger on forever. It could "crust and sugar over" while people sugar coat it. It may just "sag like a heavy load" and weigh everyone down. OR it could explode! He italicizes the last line: "Or does it explode?" I took that as everyone getting fed up and starting a riot that would spread. I think he made this option stand out, because that's what he thought would happen if nobody took action. This dream could symbolize Martin Luther King Jr's "I have a dream..." speech.