EXPLOSION (comparison language and rhetoric question)

When I wrote the blog about Perrine and his assumptions about the way poetry is interpreted, I made a few claims of my own. I said the best part of poetry is the mystery. I love the feeling that I will never truly know exactly what the author intended for his/her audience to understand or learn. This is still true; however, I might have to make a little addition. Being baffled is sometimes enjoyable, and suspenseful, but understanding a poem and feeling certain you have grasped the author's meaning is also satisfying, however more rare.

I enjoyed "Dream Deferred" because I knew what the speaker was trying to tell me*. Not only was  it short and to the point, the point was clear. My first thoughts upon reading this poem was that the last line was of the greatest importance. The last line: "Or does it explode?" is a metaphor, while the preceding eight lines contain five consecutive similes. The last line sticks out because of this difference. The similes all seem to be speculation, or musings about what happens to a dream (in this case, the dream is not the sleepy kind but the goal/wish/hope kind). The metaphor, however, seems more like a rhetorical question. The speaker seems certain, although he is technically still asking a question, that this is the right answer and that the audience will agree with his assumption. The speaker is hinting that dreams cannot truly be deferred. The cannot be dried up, or grow old, or whither away. When dreams are oppressed, they EXPLODE. They push their boundaries and overcome whatever has been holding them back, or deferring them.

My thoughts seemed confirmed when I read the last question following the poem. The author was an African American. This fact has extreme relevance to my interpretation of the similes and stand-out metaphor. African American history is one, long deferred dream that eventually exploded into reality. The comparison language and rhetoric of this concise, simple poem made it not only enjoyable, but a pleasure to understand.

*DISCLAIMER: I can't actually claim that I know EXACTLY what this poem is about. But I think I'm right. I felt the need to put this because I am often wrong.