Unit 3 Dreams

Unit 3: DREAMS
Answer the following Question

Q.1) What is the theme of the poem?
The theme of the poem rests on the piece of advice given by Langston Hughes to his readers
that they must own some dreams meaning that they should have aims, desires, and goals to
achieve in life. If one does not have any goals in his life then his life seems to be dull and
unproductive.
Q.2) How important do you think dreams are? Explain.
Dreams play a vital role in the life of an individual because it is the power of dreams for
achieving something in life that makes a person active, wise and busy as all the time he
focuses on something important that must be done by him to gain confidence and success and
thus receive appreciation or encouragement by people.
Q.3) Identify an example of a word or phrase that is repeated in the poem and explain
why the poet makes this repetition.
The phrase "hold fast to dreams" is repeated in the poem. It is repeated by the poet as he
wants to put emphasis on the importance of dreams in our lives. He is asking people to have
dreams, goals, and objectives in life and they should stick to them to remain alive and active.
Q.4) Identify an example of personification. Explain what is being personified and how?
Langston personified the life without dreams as the bird that is alive but have broken wings
thus unable to fly. The poet says that losing a dream or simply have no aim or goal in life is
just like a barren land covered with snow that has no life and nothing grows on it to be used
by the others.
Q.5) Identify lines containing metaphors. What ideas are being conveyed by these
metaphors?
Lines '3, 4' and '7,8' contains the metaphors 'broken-winged bird that cannot fly' and 'barren
field frozen with snow.' A thought-provoking idea is conveyed through these metaphors that
if one does not own dreams in life then his life is just like a bird that has wings but are broken
and due to this it cannot fly. Similarly the life without dreams is dull and dry just like barren
fields that are covered with snow and grow nothing. Such a life has no joy and beauty.
Q.6) List the alliterative words from the poem "Dreams".
The alliterative words in the poem are:
(i) dreams, die (ii) broken, bird (iii) field, frozen
Q.7) How is imagery used in this poem?
In this poem, the powerful imagery is constructed by the poet through the use of metaphors
i.e. 'broken-winged bird that cannot fly' and 'barren field frozen with snow.' Through these
metaphors, it becomes easy for the readers to know the importance of dreams in their life.
The readers are able to acknowledge that if they do not have aims and objectives in their lives
then they have no positive purpose to live and their life would become dull and handicapped.
Q.8) What is the mood of this poem? How does it make you feel?
The mood of the poem is optimistic in nature. After reading the poem, the readers feel a sense
of responsibility and they become enthusiastic towards life. They plan to have some dreams
in their life for which they should struggle and thus play a positive, constructive role.
Writing
Q.1) Keeping in view the main points of a persuasive essay, write an essay having a
thesis sentence: "A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat,
determination, and hard work."
Life is not as simple as we consider it. It must have dreams, aims and objectives to achieve
otherwise if an individual is devoid of any such feelings of goals then his life is as dull as a
barren land with no productive outcome. An individual's life must own a dream or dreams for
that he keeps himself busy and active to attain success. Though dreams are important in life,
but according to Collin Powell "A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes
sweat, determination, and hard work."
According to Suzy Kassem, "A heart without dreams is like a bird without feathers." This
concept is also strengthened by Langston Hughes in his poem 'Dreams.' A person who is not
passionate enough is like a bird that has no feathers or broken-wings that make it unable to
fly high in the air. Similarly, an aimless person is also a hopeless person who has no desire to
do anything positive in life to be appreciated or encouraged.
The world is full of the superb examples of such determined personalities who not only had a
dream but who worked really hard to get to it. Starting from the example of our beloved Holy
Prophet (P.B.U.H) who had a dream to have an enlightened Islamic society. He (P.B.U.H)
suffered a great deal of hardships but with passion and endurance achieved his pious goal.
Then we must not forget the sincere, tiresome efforts of our founder Quaid-e-Azam
Muhammad Ali Jinnah who followed the dream of Allama Iqbal and worked with full zeal
and zest, day and night and thus became successful in getting a separate country for the
Muslims of the sub-continent just due to his determination, courage, hard work and sincere
efforts. The list of such persons having high aims and their struggle towards achieving them.
In the nutshell, it is an evident fact that at the first place an individual must have a dream and
then see his dream turn into a reality, he must put all the ingredients of his sincere efforts,
determination, enthusiastic feelings into the recipe of success.
Q.2) Research the life of a famous person who faced obstacles during his/her life.
Describe the obstacles and how the person overcame them.
The Real Story of Dream Achievement of John and Washington Roebling
John Roebling is a name famous in the world of engineering and innovation. He was the one
who put forward the unique idea of building a magnificent suspension bridge that would
connect the city of New York with the Long Island (Brooklyn). Later on, the bridge is titled
as Brooklyn Bridge. Roebling’s idea of the suspension bridge was the exceptional one as it
seems to be an impossible task to be carried on. All over the world, the bridge-building
engineers were of the opinion that his idea could not be functional and it couldn’t be done.
Made with the soil of self-confidence and determination, John Roebling just ignored the
remarks of other engineers who said that it was an impossible idea and simply it could not be
done but he knew deep in his heart that yes it could be done. He wanted to turn his dream into
reality with determination, courage, effort, intellect, and obsession.
Although Roebling was discouraged by the fellows of his field still he had a vision, he had a
dream to achieve. He was so much obsessed with his dream that he discussed it with his son
Washington, who too was an engineer. Both of them started the project with full enthusiasm
and fervor. Few months were passed when a catastrophic accident happened at the
construction site that not only took the life of the mastermind of the project John Roebling
but made his son paralyzed to such an extent that he was unable to walk, talk or move. After
the incident, people remarked them as crazy beings. Even after becoming a handicapped
person, Washington never ever thought of pushing back the idea of Brooklyn Bridge from his
mind. He wanted to execute his father’s dreams. He was able to move only one finger and he
made use of that to the fullest. A unique idea clicked in his mind to adopt the method of non-
verbal communication. For that purpose, he used to tap his finger on his wife’s arm and gave
his message.
After developing a distinctive code of communication with his wife, Washington started to
work on the Brooklyn project once again with full zeal and zest. He tapped on his wife’s arm
and gave her a message to call the engineers who were appointed by Joe Roebling for the
construction of the bridge. Then he used the same method of non-verbal communication of
tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do and how to complete the project. Although it
was a difficult, time-taking task and seemed irrational but the Brooklyn project was
completed this way in a long time period of 13 years. Finally, the Brooklyn Bridge becomes a
tribute and monument for the efforts of the engineers and the love and devotion of
Washington’s wife who unwearyingly decoded the messages.
Q.3) Combine the following pairs of the sentence by using participating (present/past).
The first one has been done.
(1) We met a boy. He was carrying a heavy bag.
(2) The house was decorated with lights. It looked beautiful.
(3) I found the door open. I went inside.
(4) The robbers saw the policeman. They ran away.
(5) The police saw the body. It was floating down the river.
Answer:
(1) We met a boy carrying a heavy bag.
(2) The house was decorated with lights and looked beautiful.
(3) I found the door open and went inside.
(4) The robbers saw the policeman and ran away.
(5) The police saw the body floating down the river.

Unit 3 Dreams

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Unit 3: DREAMS

Answer the following Question

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