The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes

The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes is one of the most important pieces of literature left behind from the Harlem Renaissance. This poem was Hughes first published work of literature and introduced a new form of literature. There are some pieces of literature that are so important in our history that they will forever be remembered despite how long ago they were written.

Who Is Langston Hughes?

Langston Hughes was an African American poet born in Joplin, Missouri in 1902. After his birth his parents split. His Father moved to Mexico and his mother moved a lot during their youth. He was primarily raised by his grandmother until her death. Hughes later began writing after his family settling in Cleveland Ohio. Hughes later attended Columbia University briefly until dropping out in 1922.

Blues Form

Langston Hughes wrote in a new form now known as blues form. He was the first to write in this form. (Young) This is a form of writing that was developed from implementing different characteristics of blues including struggle and despair. Ralph Ellison also states that this form is also filled with determination to overcome their struggle and despair. (Blues Form, poets.org)

Theme and Analysis

The theme of this poem was about how hard it is to be a black artist living in a racist society. The poem is told from a listener of a blues musician. This musician is the main focus of the poem and sings about how he has no one but himself in this world and wishes that he had died.

“Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,

Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,

I heard a Negro play.

Down on Lenox Avenue the other night

By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light

He did a lazy sway. . . .”

These are the first lines in the poem and instantly create a depressing setting. The observer hears an emotionless hum of music coming from a black musician during night. Even his bodily movements are lazy.

“Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool

He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool.”

The musician’s stool is damaged and wobbly, and he is performing a sad song to accompany the already depressing setting.

In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone

I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan —

“Ain’t got nobody in all this world,

Ain’t got nobody but ma self.

I’s gwine to quit ma frownin’

And put ma troubles on the shelf.”

This was the first major quote expressed in the poem. The observer finally hears the musicians lyrics, and the musician sings about his loneliness and how they try to ignore it and just put their problems aside.

He played a few chords then he sang some more —

“I got the Weary Blues

And I can’t be satisfied.

Got the Weary Blues

And can’t be satisfied —

I ain’t happy no mo’

And I wish that I had died.”

When the musician begins to sing again his lyrics become more depressing than before and announce his own wish to die.

The singer stopped playing and went to bed

While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.

He slept like a rock or a man that’s dead.

The closing of this poem expresses how even though the musician had stopped singing, his feelings still linger and represent how he feels. Even at night he feels nothing and lays there almost as if he were dead.

Legacy

The Weary Blues was Langston Hughes first published book and is a major piece of writing from the Harlem Renaissance. It is especially important because it introduced this new form of poetry implementing the characteristics of blues into its writing. “A century after Knopf began as a publisher, and nearly ninety years after his book first appeared, Hughes’s innovation still resonates with its rich lines and fascinating lives — the very liveliness it brought to the world.” (Young) For this poem to still be relevant a century after it was published just goes to what a major piece of history it is.

Works Cited

Young, Kevin. (February 4 2015). On Langston Hughes’s The Weary Blues. Poets.org. retrieved from: https://poets.org/text/langston-hughess-weary-blues

N.A. (N.D.) Blues Poem. Poets.org. retrieved from: https://poets.org/glossary/blues-poem