Langston Hughes

(February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967)

American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. He moved to
New York City as a young man, where he made his career. He was one of the earliest innovators of the
then-new literary art form called jazz poetry. Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem
Renaissance in New York City.

THE WEARY BLUES - Langston Hughes reads his ballad

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. . . .
He did a lazy sway. . . .
To the tune o’ those Weary Blues.
With his ebony hands on each ivory key
He made that poor piano moan with melody.
O Blues!
Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool
He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool.
Sweet Blues!
Coming from a black man’s soul.
O Blues!
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.”

Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.

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.”
And far into the night he crooned that tune.
The stars went out and so did the moon.
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.
Analysis

This poem told a story through the speaker’s perspective of a black artist playing piano while
singing the blues. Through this, the poem showed the beauty of black art and how the artist
expressed himself through music. The mood of this poem is very drowsy alongside a bit of
sadness and the author achieves this by using a range of diction. For example, “drowsy”, “
pale dull pallor” and “moan” all convey that tiredness and pain in this poem.

There are several times where the phrase “Weary Blues” or “Blues” is repeated. This repetition
further supports the mood and serves a few meanings to this piece. The “Weary Blues” could
be the song title or these specific feelings the singer is trying to convey. The color blue is also
often associated with sadness and loneliness, which could be referred back to the mood of this
poem. This repetition could also give a sense of rhythm when reading. In line 10-16, “He made
that poor piano moan with melody./ O Blues!/ Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool/ He
played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool./ Sweet Blues!/ Coming from a black man’s soul./
O Blues!” Even though these lines are a part of narration, the implementation of these phrases
like “Sweet Blues!” and “O Blues!” makes it feel like a part of the song this man is singing.
Looking at this, the author is able to tell the story of how this man is not only singing the “weary
blues” because he felt sad but also because his life is like the song.

Although the end of most lines are rhymed, there isn’t a specific rhyme scheme in this poem.
The way each sounds matches with another when the line ends, it creates a harmonic unity
that feels more pleasant. The rhymes are also appropriate to this poem where it is about music,
it joins the poem itself with the story in it. Like the paragraph above, the rhyming plays a part in
connecting the character’s life and the song lyrics.

The dialect in this poem shows the reader the cultural background of the story. As the poem
mentioned before, the song is sung by a black music artist and these could be seen through the
structure and phrasing in the character’s dialogue. For example the dialogue from line 19 to 22,
“‘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 is a part where the man is singing. From the way he says
he doesn't have anyone in this world but himself, we can tell that those are the phrases from
black culture. The same thing also applies to the way he pronounce words like “my” and “going”.

Most lines in this poem are using end-stopped line breaks while some others are enjambed.
The use of end-stopping line breaks is able to tell a very straight forward thought from the
speaker, the author wrote “And far into the night he crooned that tune./The stars went out and
so did the moon./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.”, in the last 5 lines of the poem. The
way each short line ends with a period creates this depressed and trapped feeling. This also
gives a closure to this story of this man slept in sorrow