Poetry is a very interesting, exciting, and creative way of expressing one's self. Some poems are short and some poems are long. Poems look differently. Some authors mainly use metaphors and similes. Others use alliteration, personification, and hyperbole. Some poets use all of these literary devices. One my favorite authors is Langston Hughes. He was an African-American poet, novelist, and playwright, who wrote in the first part of the 20th century. He was part of the Harlem Renaissance, a period of time in which black writer, musicians, and artist were very progressive and part of a cultural movement. One of Langston Hughes' most well-known is "Dreams . The poem entitled dreams says the following: Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams For when dreams go Life is a barren field Frozen with snow Langston Hughes frequently used metaphors in his writing. A metaphor is a figure of speech. It makes a comparison between two or more nouns or items without using "like  or "as . The language is figurative rather than literary. In the poem "Dreams  the following metaphors are used: 1)Life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly 2)Life is a barren field frozen with snow. These comparisons bring the words alive. A person reading the poem can imagine how sad it is when a bird can no longer fly. That bird's life is basically ended. If life is a barren or empty field frozen with snow, it is also dead. Langston Hughes' poems generally do have lines or verses that rhyme. Rhyming words are words that sound alike. When a poem uses rhyme its lines end with words that sound alike. These words appear at the end of every other line. In the first stanza of "Dreams , fly and die rhyme. In the second go and snow rhyme. The main theme of this poem is that our dreams are very important and should not be forgotten. The author's message is that if we lose our dreams then out lives become