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Langston Hughes's “The Weary Blues,” first published in 1925, describes a black piano player performing a slow, sad blues song. This performance takes place in a club in Harlem, a segregated neighborhood in New York City. The poem meditates on the way that the song channels the suffering and injustice of the black experience in America, ...
- Detailed Analysis
- Structure
- Historical Context
Lines 1-3
The first line of ‘The Weary Blues’ begins by describing the music as “drowsy” and “syncopated.” The former is a musical term that means that the beats, accents, or rhythmof a piece are intentionally misplaced. This specific aural landscape, coupled with the image of a man “rocking back and forth” as he croons creates an almost haunting image in the mind of the reader. Another thing to note is that the first few lines establish a single, individual speaker. It’s likely the speaker is a member...
Lines 4-7
This group of lines continues to add definition to the scene created in the piece. The reader immediately learns the location of the poem’s setting, Lenox Avenue, long a haven for jazz and Blues. The fifth line of ‘The Weary Blues’adds to the eerie feeling cultivated. The streets are not just lit by lights; they are lit by gaslights giving off a “pale dull pallor.” This is also another example of how musical terms, such as “dull” are used repeatedly to describe the night. The repetition of “H...
Lines 8-11
Next, as hands crawl across ivory keys, we learn more about the performer and performance. The second line is most likely a reference to segregation, which was, at the time, a reality around the United States. Black and white are allowed to mingle in the poem, making beautiful music. “Weary Blues” seems to be the name of the song he’s singing, and as I mentioned, the man is playing the piano. Make special note, of that “poor piano.” The man is not just playing, but in keeping with the piece’s...
As previously noted, the poem uses rhyme and rhythm in interesting ways. The composition mimics the shifting structures and patterns of Jazz music. The indented lines are emphasized both on the page and in the reader’s mind as if they are being sung. ‘The Weary Blues’ is written in free verse, but it contains a number of rhyming coupletsthroughout....
‘The Weary Blues’ is from the first collection of Langston Hughes’s poetry, titled ‘The Weary Blues’. Hughes was a prolific writer. He wrote poetry, prose, and plays. He won a number of awards. He was also a social activist. He was born in Joplin, Missouri, and traveled the world working as a seaman. He eventually settled in New York, which is wher...
"The Weary Blues" is one of Hughes's most famous poems. Critics have claimed that the poem is a combination of blues and jazz with personal experiences. It embodies blues as a metaphor and form. It has also been coined as one of the first works of blues performance in literature.
- Langston Hughes, Carl Van Vechten
- 1931
Langston Hughes ’s “The Weary Blues” is a landmark poem of the Harlem Renaissance. The poem centers on a Black speaker who recalls the transformative experience he had while listening to a blues musician at a local jazz club.
From a general summary to chapter summaries to explanations of famous quotes, the SparkNotes The Weary Blues Study Guide has everything you need to ace quizzes, tests, and essays.
“The Weary Blues” is a lyric poem with two voices. The central narrative voice describes an African American (or Negro, in this 1923 poem), in Harlem, New York, who is observed singing and...
The poem by Langston Hughes depicts a black piano player singing a sad blues song in a Harlem club. The poem explores the themes of pain and beauty of black art, and the context of the Harlem Renaissance movement.
