answer:Like any poetic statement, it’s open to interpretation. To me, he’s speaking generally about what happens to a person when their dreams are put off or out of reach. If your dreams remain our of reach, do you shrivel, drawing inward as hope becomes less and less? Or does the inaccessibility of your dreams create tension? Does the distance of the dream create frustration and anger, corrupting the soul and eventually creating an explosion of action or emotion? I’m not sure about the date of publication, but I have to assume that Hughes is writing about the experience of black communities in the US. Think MLK’s dream. What happens when the dreams of equality, prosperity, health, and safety are deferred? What does it do to a people’s soul?