16 pages • 32-minute read
my dream about being white
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Literary Devices
Form and Meter
“my dream of being white” is written in free verse, meaning that it has no regular meter or rhyme scheme. This reflects the rhythms and language of the vernacular, or everyday spoken patterns of speech, and indicates that the poem is meant to speak to everyday people outside the literary elite. It is also meant to speak for everyday people, elevating their concerns and their aesthetic to the level of poetry. Specifically, Clifton’s poetry employs techniques and themes developed in the Black Arts Movement. Her poems are often short, focused on experiences rooted in African American culture, and make use of the vernacular rather than academic language. Her poems often eschew typical punctuation in favor of a free-flow style unhindered by periods and commas.
Though the poem has no regular meter, it has a distinct pace and flow: easy and nonchalant, but quietly brisk. The organic, unstructured line breaks also convey an imaginative spontaneity, and all these elements create a sense of dreaminess (whether the poem portrays a day dream or a sleeping dream is unclear, as both are a kind of trance from which one can “wake up” [Line 16]).
Short Line Breaks and White Space
Clifton typically employs short lines in her poems, leaving much white space. Typically, white space is meant to indicate a pause so readers can reflect on a line’s meaning. Because Clifton’s poems are so dense with layered meaning, the white space allows readers time to contemplate the significance of each phrase and combination of words.
For example, in the lines “me / only white” (Lines 2-3), the phrase “only white” (Line 3) is its own line. The word “only” (Line 3) can hold several meanings—as a conjunction or an adverb. In other words, the speaker may be dreaming of “me, except that now I’m white”; or she may be dreaming of “me, and I am solely white”; or “me, and I am merely white.” These are each very different statements. Regarding the lattermost interpretation, if a person is judged on the color of their skin, then to say “only” (Line 3) before “white” (Line 3) undercuts the importance of the term white. It suggests one’s skin color is not nearly as important as people tend to think. The poem’s white space creates a moment of breath in which readers can reflect on the layers of meaning before moving on to the next line.
Interjection
The poem repeats the word “hey” (Lines 1, 9), which appears twice as an interjection—a word that signifies the writer’s intention but has no technical meaning. It can mean surprise, pleasure, or displeasure, or it can simply direct the reader’s attention. Using “hey” (Lines 1, 9) twice reinforces that this poem is meant for regular people to read and appreciate; such a word would never direct the reader in academic or professional writing. Clifton’s “hey” (Lines 1, 9) also inserts a beat, a sound, an emotion, and a rhythm without adding an easily defined meaning. “hey music” (Line 1) might suggest the suddenness of music starting off the dream, or surprise at the music. “hey / white me” (Lines 9-10) suggests that the speaker’s feelings about seeing “white me” (Line 10) are complex and possibly ambiguous. Moreover, the interjection, as an utterance of address, necessarily separates the dream speaker from the waking speaker; the latter is the one speaking and the former is the one being spoken of, observed, and reacted to. The reader can only infer whether either “hey” (Lines 1, 9) carries feelings of pleasure, surprise, rebuff, or a series of feelings too complex to fit into any easily defined word. This enforces the complexity of the speaker’s feelings toward her body and toward society’s judgments about her body.
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