Read the stanza from shakespeare’s “sonnet 18.” shall i compare thee to a summer's day? thou art more lovely and more temperate: rough winds do shake the darling buds of may, and summer's lease hath all too short a date: what is the purpose of these lines? to complain about the intense heat and humidity of summer to persuade a loved one to visit during a warm season to express love by likening a loved one to a nice day to argue that hot weather is more pleasant than cold weather

The harlem renaissance dawned in an era of pervasive racism and segregation. although legally "free," many african americans were still bound by ideas that had their roots in the slavery of earlier centuries. identity and freedom are important ideas presented in many of the poems from the harlem renaissance. furthermore, the values of identity and freedom are not unique to particular times and places. as hughes expresses in "dream variations," all humans want to be able to develop their identities in freedom. what role does freedom play in the poems you read in this unit? what is required of a society to enable each individual to be true to his or her identity and be free to live by that identity? write about at least three of the poems, describing how the poet uses imagery to depict freedom and identity, the lack of it, or the desire for it.