The Weary Blues

“The Weary Blues” by Langston Hughes was first published in 1925. The poem is about a black piano player who performs a slow and sad blue song. The performance is in the club in Harlem. Harlem is a segregated black town in New York City. 

The poem is an account of how black people suffer in America. Hughes also points out the injustices experienced by black people. However, he transformed the sufferings of the black people into something cathartic and beautiful. The poem mirrors the intense beauty of black and the pain that lies beneath it.

Background of the Poem

Literary Context

The poem “The Weary Blues” has been taken from Hughes’s first collection of poetry The Weary Blues. The poem of Hughes is among the major works of the Harlem Renaissance. Harlem Renaissance is a literary movement that started in the 1920s in New York. 

Black writers, artists, and intellectuals, during the Harlem Renaissance, worked to express the complexities that black people experience while living in America. The writers and artists include Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Zora Neale Hurston.

The black writers use art to express the injustices and racism prevailing in American communities. They protest through their art. Many of the leading artists and writers of the Harlem Renaissance worked really hard to free themselves from the white and European traditions in art. 

The leaders of the Harlem Renaissance invented new ways of literary and artistic forms. They developed a new language and new ways to make art that express the experiences of black people in a much better way. They abandon the old fusty poetic traditions, e.g., sonnet.

In the poem “The Weary Blues,” there is great impulse. In the poem, on the blues are described by Hughes, he also reproduces the rhythms and distinctive sounds of the blues music. Blues, the form of music, developed in the South of America. It is the work songs and musical traditions of the black Americans living in the South.

In the 1920s and 1930s, black Americans moved to the North in search of freedom and economic opportunities. They also bought their traditional work music with them. The blues musicians from the South start playing them regularly in cities like Chicago and New York.

The blue poetry and songs are written in stanzas of four lines. The stanzas are repetitive, with lines resonating with each other. For instance, in the poem, Hughes also directly imitates the lyrics of blues songs. 

He also imitates indirectly by using alliteration and repetition in order to capture the mood of the songs. Thus, the poems of Hughes take the form of popular black music and become a part of poetry. The poem expresses that like any of the European poetic traditions, blues is as sophisticated and expressive.

Historical Context

The poem, “The Weary Blues” was published when the Harlem Renaissance was at its peak – 1925. The second decade of the twentieth century is a very tough time for black Americans. Segregation had become legal in the South. There were separate schools, drinking fountains, and accommodations for whites and blacks. 

There was a growing KU Klux Klan: the black people were terrorized and murdered in the South and in other parts of the country. In order to look for better jobs and living opportunities, many blacks move to the North. The movement from South to North is called the “Great Migration.”

However, things did not settle for the poor black people in the North. When they arrived in the cities like New York and Chicago, they were confined to segregated and overcrowded neighborhoods like Harlem in New York and Bronzeville in Chicago. They were forced to live in poorly maintained and tiny apartments. 

The blacks started in these tiny apartments, launched many important artistic and literary movements in order to protest the oppression in which the black communities lived. The Harlem Renaissance was the leading movement. 

The Weary Blues Summary

The poem opens with a speaker who tells us about a singer, a black man who is playing a sleepy, ragged song. The musician is rocking back and forth, singing in a calm and soft voice. He mentions that it was Lenox Avenue, where the singer sang the song a few nights ago. 

The musician was playing in a dim light coming from the old gas lamp. He had control over the piano bench lazily. He also controlled the tune of the tired blues he had played. The musician played a mournful song on the white piano with his black hands. He played the sad tune as if he were drunk with music by rocking back and forth on a stool.

The speaker says that it was a lovely song that was coming from the black soul. The black man is singing in a low and sad voice with the piano accompanying him. He says that “I don’t have anyone in the world.” He asserts that he has no one but himself. He is going to stop feeling sad and get out of the troubles he is facing.

The speaker says that the musician repeatedly thumped on the floors; he played the chords on the piano and continued singing:

“I have the weary blues, and I can’t be content.

I’ve got the weary blues, and I can’t be content.

I’m not happy anymore: I wish that I was dead.”

The speaker says that the singer continues singing the song late into the night until the stars and moon went dark. He then stopped playing, went back to his bed. However, the music was still in his head. He had a deep sleep as if he were a dead man or a rock.

Themes in The Weary Blues

The Pain and Beauty of Black Art

The poem “The Weary Blues” is about the beauty and pain of black art. The poem is about a black, blue singer who is singing in the bar in the neighborhood of Harlem late into the night. The music of the black man accounts for the pain of being living in a racist society. 

The music serves as a relief for the speaker. It appears to be soothing and healing. He feels comfort to hear the sorrow transformed into a song. However, the song does not have the same effect on the blues singer. For the black singer, channeling so much pain and suffering is tiresome. 

The tension in the poem mirrors the creativity and oppression at the same time.  

The poem suggests how much-marginalized people can find power and solace in art. They do not shy away from emotionally tough the process of creativity could be. Black art honors the beauty of art, and at the same time, it also acknowledges the suffering and pain that result in the creation of such art.

For the speaker of the poem, the blues is not only a piece of music, but it is also a source of conveying the injustices and sufferings of the black people that they endured while living in a racist society. The music is full of pain. It is described as sad and melancholy. Even the piano of the speaker is full of pain and melancholy as if it were crying out in pain. 

In line 15 of the poem, the speaker observes that the music is coming from the soul of the black man. The pain that the music expresses is linked with the pain that the black people have been experiencing. It is also tied to the lie of black people in a racist society. 

The pleasure of the music comes from its ability to transform and negotiate the pain of black people.

While listening to the blues singer, the speaker feels release and relief. In the first stanza, the speaker cries out “O Blues!” and “Sweet Blues” throughout. The music appears to transport the speaker in the eliciting cries of pleasure and rapture. 

For the speaker, music offers him both acknowledgment and escape from his troubles. This is why the speaker is so much absorbed in the performance. That is why the poem suggests that the musical traditions of the South like blues assist people in enduring and resisting racism.

However, the poem deals with the pains and sufferings that the poet/singer experiences while making and playing this kind of painful music. The speaker asserts that when the singer goes back to his home after playing the music late into the night, he sleeps like a dead man or rock. 

The simile suggests that the speaker is tired, and he sleeps very deeply. However, the implication and the tone of the simile is a little darker. This implies that for blues singers, playing such kind of music is so painful that by the end of it, he appears to be dead. This shows his pain, which is sucking his life out of him.

The poem “The Weary Blues” celebrates blues music as it expresses the black sufferings and through which they can escape and resist the racist society in which they are living. The poem also documents the costs that black people pay for doing so. Such creation of art drains and diminishes the artists who express and conduit such pains and sufferings. 

The poem is not only the description of the blues; the poem itself is written in the rhythm and form of blues music. Langston Hughes. Hughes describes the sufferings of his community while writing this poem. He writes this poem as a source of pleasure and celebrations in hopes that the reader will experience the same relief.

Language and Communication

The speaker and the musician in the poem “The Weary Blues” are trying to convey their feelings and sufferings to the readers/audience. The speaker tries to share his experiences at a nightclub with the readers. 

In order to draw the audience to understand his feelings, the speaker uses vivid and clear language. The speaker matches his descriptive style with the style of the musician by shouting “O Blues!”, including the song lyrics in the poem, and by repeating the phrases of the musician.

Moreover, the musician is also communicating his feelings. However, the speaker does not mention what he is communicating. He rather focuses on how the musician is communicating. The speaker could have simply said that he is blues, but rather he communicates himself from his singing, body language, and piano playing.

Suffering

The blues music is all about expressing the pain and suffering of black people. The suffering can be physical, emotional, or financial. The more suffering one has experienced in his or her life, and the better would be the song. 

The blues musicians not only sing in a way as if they are in pain, but they also make their instruments sound melancholy and sad. For instance, the piano appears to be moaning throughout the poem.

Race

One of the major aspects of the Harlem Renaissance in African American’s struggles to redefine what it means to be the descent of Africa in America. They did so by pointing out the cultural traditions like blues music. They define themselves by creating new ways of expressing their identity. 

Hughes clearly rejected the idea that manners and values of the white Americans and Europeans are the best ones in his essay “The N**** Artist and the Racial Movement.” He also refrains African American artists from imitating white traditions in art. 

He rather encourages and motivates the young black writer to adapt their own traditions and “express [their] individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame” just like he does in his poem “The Weary Blues.

The Weary Blues Analysis

“The Weary Blues” is about the performance of a black blues musician who is playing in a club in Harlem on Lenox Avenue. The poem imitates the form and tone of the Blues music and employs free verse in his work that resembles the spoken language.

Lines 1-3

In the first line of the poem “The Weary Blues,” the speaker says the music is “syncopated” and “drowsy.” Syncopated is a musical term that means that accents, beats, or rhythm of any work are intentionally misplaced. A haunting image in the minds of the readers is created through a specific aural landscape, which is coupled with the image of “rocking back and forth” while he is singing.

The speaker of the poem is also introduced to who is among the audience at a particular event.

 Lines 4-7

In these lines, the speaker continues to give a description of the scene. The speaker tells the readers the setting of the poem is Lenox Avenue, a club for Blues and Jazz. The speaker also adds the eerie feeling in the fifth line of the poem. 

The streets are not only lit by lights but there are also gaslights that give off “pale dull pallor.” Words such as “dull” is repeatedly used to describe the night.

There is a repetition of “He did a sway…” which is noteworthy. The two lines are suggestive of the musical refrain. The lines also give a sense of continuous movement of the singer.

Lines 8-11

In these lines, the speaker gives further information about the performance and the performer. His black hands crawl across the white ivory keys of the piano, which refers to segregation in the United States. In the poem, black and white are allowed to mingle, which makes beautiful music.

It seems that “Weary Blues” is the name of the song the singer is singing. The speaker is playing the piano in a piece’s tone and makes it “moan with melody.”

Lines 12-14

In these lines, special imagery is used. The speaker uses the imagery of “rickety stool” just like “poor piano” in previous lines. The tune that the singer is playing is “raggy.”

The speaker also uses the word” musical fool,” which could be a reference to court fools or jesters of the past. The term implies that a musical fool is from a lower social status; however, it is entertaining the modern lords and ladies of New York City.

Lines 15-22

The blues singer ultimately started to sing. The speaker directly sings to the readers what the singer is singing. He sings in a thick colloquial language, which shows that he belongs to the poor working class.

The lyrics of the song are heartbreaking. The singer becomes more sympathetic if the lyrics are autobiographical, as in most cases, Blues is.

Lines 23-30

As the song proceeds, the speaker informs the readers more about the singer. He says that his voice is very mournful that matches the tragic words. The singer appears to be living in a deep depression.

There is the repetition of the word “thump,” which is used to mimic the sound of music. The thumps are used to keep the beats of the music.

Lines 31-35

In the last four lines of the poem, the speaker creates a sense of intruding darkness. As the singer is performing late into the night, first the star goes out and then the moon. And then the music fades. The speaker says that he can imagine the singer plodding home quietly through the dark. He fades away and sleeps like a dead.

The speaker stresses the word “dead.” The poet could imply that as the poem ends, the subject of the poem also died shortly. The speaker appears to be omniscient as he knows what the singer does even after his performance ends, and he goes to his apartment.

Symbols

Stars

Stars are the conventional symbols of guidance and hope. For instance, throughout history, the sailors used the stars to navigate. The sailors would use the stars to navigate themselves in the threatening, dark ocean. In line 32 of “The Weary Blues,” when the stars go out, the singer walks back to his home. It shows that things are not going well. 

The singer is going back home without guidance or hope in the dark that is usually provided by stars. Moreover, the speaker also does not inform the readers about the sun rising as it is almost the time of dawn.

The speaker of the poem uses the symbol to show that the Blues singer is traveling in deep and unrelenting darkness, and he cannot find any way out. It also suggests the pain and cost that the writer has to suffer while creating art. Channeling and reflecting on the pain has deprived him of hope.

The Moon

Just like stars, the Moon is also a traditional symbol of beauty and hope. Poets are often seen as appealing to mon as it appears to be remote from their sufferings and struggles. The moon is literally above the would of humans, and it looks down on the problems of humans. 

The moon appears to be comforting as a port experiences so much pain and sorrow on earth, but he is sure that something is there, which is supremely beautiful and unaffected.

However, the speaker says that the moon goes out (in line 32). The blue singer lacks consolation. With all the hope and beauty that the moon symbolizes, it disappears from the life of the singer. 

This is suggestive of the cost that the singer pays because of his art. As the singer channels the sufferings and pains of black, he does so at the cost. Reflecting on his sufferings in the art damages him and leaves him in a world that has no escape, no hope, and no outlet.

Form

The poem “The Weary Blues” is written in two stanzas. The first stanza has 22 lines, while the second stanza has 12 lines. The poem is not in a particular form like that of villanelle or the sonnet. 

The poem implicitly rejects the Europeans or traditional white form of poetry and suggests that such forms are not necessary for the poem’s subject. The poem deals with the suffering and power of black art.

Langston Hughes was the leading writer of the Harlem Renaissance. It is very important for him to break from the European, white traditions in poetry. He acknowledges and developed literary traditions that particularly speak for the experience of the black people in America.

The poem “The Weary Blues” is directly part of Langston’s project. The speaker recreates the sounds and rhythms of the blues throughout the poem. Blue is the form of popular music of African Americans. He uses rhyme, alliteration, repetition, and many more to recreate the rhythm and sound of Blues. 

The poem is not only about blues, but it also imitates the blues. Therefore, the poem makes a strong, powerful, and implicit argument regarding blues being a cultural tradition. It implies that blues is distinguished, sophisticated, and powerful, just like the other poetic tradition of Europeans.

Meter

The poem “The Weary Blues” does not have any steady and established meter. Some of the lines in the poem are long enough to have fourteen syllables, while some are so short of having two syllables. 

The poem has a strong rhythm even without meter. The rhythm of the poem is like a syncopated rhythm of blues music that does not follow the meters of traditional poetry.

The poem also draws some of the energy from the variety of its rhythms. The speaker feels the freedom to establish and then break the rhythm. For instance, in lines 23 and 23, there are a variety of rhythms:

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

He played a few chords then he sang some more—

The opening words “thump, thump, thump” of the poem imitates the sound of the blues thing while he is pounding on the floor. This is onomatopoeia. Thus, the line begins with three heavy stress syllables and then goes back to its rhythm.

Even though lines 23 and 24 do not have an established meter, these lines have a similar number of syllables, and they also rhyme as “Floor/more.” “floor” and “more” are two strongly stressed syllables at the end of the line. The poem has strong syllables, just like the Blues music, whether it has a meter or not.

Rhyme Scheme

The poem “The Weary Blues” does not fix the rhyming scheme. Some parts of the poem have one rhyming scheme; some parts follow another rhyming scheme; while some parts of the poem do not have a rhyming scheme at all. Even though the poem has irregularity and complexity, all of the varying rhyming schemes have the same purpose. 

The rhyming scheme is designed to make the poem musical, just like the song of the blues.

Most of the poem has rhyming couplets. For instance, in lines 1-2 and 4-5, there are rhyming couplets. Each couplet is followed by an interjection; thus, they are isolated from each other, for instance, in line 3. The rhyming pattern from lines 1 to 7 is AABCCBB. This pattern continues to form unpredictably throughout the poem.

In the last five lines of the poem, the poet maintains the rhythm without any injection or interruption. The last five lines of the poem rhyme AABBB

The rhyming couplets in the poem give a musical and bluesy feel to the poem. The rhymes in the poem are direct. There appear to be rhymes in the blues songs.

The rhyming scheme of the poem is so complex and irregular that one can hardly call it a rhyming scheme. However, the irregularity in the poem is part of the poem as it aids the speaker to imitate the music and the improvisational feel of the blues.

Speaker

The poem does not provide any hint about the speaker. The readers are not aware of the gender, race, age, or profession of the speaker. However, one can easily assume that, just like the singer, a speaker is also a black man. 

The poem has a “drowsy syncopated tune.” The speaker of the poem describes the blue singer and his poem in detail. He focuses on the way his boy sways with the rhythm of the poem. Moreover, he also describes the movement of the singer’s hands across the keys of the piano. In this way, the personality and feelings of the speaker appear more clearly.

In response to the singer, the speaker cries “O Blues!” and “Sweet Blues” in the first stanza of the poem. These cries appear to be the cries of release and pleasure as if the speaker is experiencing relaxation while listening to the music. 

“The Weary Blues,” for the speaker provides a release from his troubles and the sufferings that he experiences as a black person living in a racist society.

Setting

The setting of the poem is the blues club on Lenox Avenue in Harlem. Harlem is a black neighborhood in New York City. The place was later renamed Malcolm X Boulevard. The club is run-down and old-fashioned. For instance, the club is lit by old gaslight. 

It shows that the club does not have electricity. Although the time in which the poem has been written, New York City was electrified for many years.

The old-fashioned and run-down setting of the club shows the difficult conditions in which the black people have been living. A poor neighborhood like Harlem was poorly maintained, neglected, and poorly served by New York City. 

Regardless of such a seedy and ramshackle setting, the blues singer manages to make a great piece of art. He creates music that transports and transforms its listeners. In this way, the speaker suggests that black art attains victory over the limitations that are placed by racism.

Style

In “The Weary Blues,” Hughes reflects the elements of blues music in his poetic style. The opening lines of the poem are written in parallel, which is followed by interjection and then by another two parallel lines. This pattern is repeated throughout the poem. The actual words sway back and forth like the music and the stool of the musician.

Blues music is inspired by the call-and-response fields songs of the African American in the South. The blues poetry consists of a call line, response line, and repeat line. For instance, in the poem, the first two line repeats the same idea with a small difference. 

Both the lines “Ain’t got nobody in all this world” and “Aint’ got nobody but myself” express the loneliness of the singer. Similarly, the response to the call line “I’s gwine to quit ma frowning’ / And put ma troubles on the shelf” also shows the loneliness of the singer. The speaker decides to stop feeling sorry for himself and continue doing what he is supposed to do.

These lines highlight the features of blues poetry and also show the desire of Hughes to write like the black people. Hughes adjusts the syntax and spelling so as to represent the working-class African American’s speech. 

For example, instead of using “I’m going to,” he uses “I’s gwine.” By writing in the broken dialect, Hughes wants to remind the readers of the imperfection in beauty.

In the poem, Hughes employed two different voices: the blues singer and the speaker. Even though the poem and the lyrics are spoken from the perspective of the speaker, the voice of the blues singer is undoubtedly different. 

The blues singer speaks in the broken dialect of the working African Americans while the language of the speaker is polished, just like the voice of an educated man. Although the poem has two main voices, there is one story and one emotion in the poem, and that is weariness. It is the song that brings together the weariness of two strangers as they belong to the same race.

The two different and contrasting voices in the poem represent the duality of the African American identity at the beginning of the 20th century. The voice of the speaker shows the “face” that is shown to the outside world – the content, educated, and polite side of Americans – while the blues singer shows the “soul” – the underlying surface which is sad, isolated, and determined.

The poem, under the surface, appears to show that all black people dirge on the shared exhaustion of the generation of pain. They all are lonely because of segregation, they are “weary” because of oppression, and they all are unsatisfied because of their position in society. 

The African Americans acknowledge the elasticity of putting their sufferings on the shelf and pushing it forward. Even though the blues singer is singing about loneliness, his soul represents the African American spirit and is never alone. 

In the presence of another African American, loneliness and isolation are shared. Even though the speaker does not personally know the speaker, he acknowledges his pain because they belong to the same race.

Mood

The mood of the poem is both downtrodden and energized. The music is relaxed and lazy. The place is lit with “dull pallor,” which suggests the vitality and vibrancy that has been sucked from the room. Just like the singer, the mood also turns “weary.”

The tune of the poem is melancholic, and it speaks of the sadness and loneliness of the speaker. However, it is energized, and the audience does not feel sorry for him. The speaker also interrupts the praise phrases by saying, “O Blues!” and “Sweet Blues.” 

He mirrors the call-and-response songs sung by the enslaved Africans working or the fields in the South during the 19th century. Such phrases suggest the excitement and energy present around the dull-lit stage on Lenox Avenue, regardless of the weary mood that sets the scene. 

The duality of weariness and energy is confirmed in the closing lines of the poem. For instance, the speaker says, “He slept like a rock or a man that’s dead.” Apparently, it seems like a bleak closing image. 

The speaker did not accompany the singer to his home and did not see how he slept. However, the speaker assumes how the blues singer slept on the basis of the larger theme of the poem.

As the musician represents the African American culture, the audience is aware that he has a bigger mood. The speaker says that the singer sleeps as if he is dead or rock. This refers to the (white) outside world that has suppressed him. He cannot cause any trouble, and he is written off. 

However, the audience knows that the singer and the African American people cannot be written off. They cannot be held back no matter how bad things go. They will continue rising on the rickety stool and sing their songs from their souls. This makes the weary mood energized again. 

Literary Devices in the Poem

In order to bring richness and clarity in the texts, poets use literary devices. With the use of literary devices, texts become more appealing and meaningful. In the poem “The Weary Blues,” Langston Hughes employed various literary devices to emphasize the intended impact of the poem. Following are the literary devices used in the poem:

Alliteration

Alliteration is the repetition of the consonant sound at the beginning of every word at close intervals. For instance, in the poem,

“Droning a drowsy syncopated tune.”

There is a repetition of “d” sound that creates a pleasing rhythm and enhances the musical effect of the poem.

Personification

Attributing human qualities to non-living things is known as personification. In the poem, the poet employed personification in the poem, Hughes writes “poor piano” and “old man piano.” In the poem, the poet personifies the piano as a poor and old man.

Anaphora

The repetition of two or more words at the beginning of two or more lines in poetry is called anaphora. In the poem, the poet says:

Ain’t got nobody in all this world,

Ain’t got nobody but ma self.

The repetition of the word “Aint got nobody” at the beginning of the above line is anaphora.

Simile

When two different objects are compared to one another to understand the meaning, the use of the word “like,” “as,” etc. is called a simile. For example, in the poem, imagery is employed as:

“He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool,”

 “He slept like a rock.”

Assonance

Assonance is the repetition of stressed vowel sounds in a series of words. Assonance creates the mood of the poem. For example, in the line “old piano moan: there is a repetition of “o” sound. This reflects the overall weariness and pain of the work.

Dialect

Dialect is the language that reflects the speech pattern of people of a particular group or region. In literary texts, writers employ a particular dialect to make their characters more original and alive.

In the poem “The Weary Blues,” Hughes employed a simple African American dialect in the stanzas that is sung by the blues singer. For instance, in line 21, Hughes drops the ending “g” in the word frownin’. Likewise, Hughes replaces the vowel sound o and i in the word gwine (going). 

Imagery

The writer creates particular images in the poem through language. Hughes employed strong descriptive phrases and words throughout the poem. For instance, in line 2, he says, “Rocking back and forth,” and in lines 6 and 7, he says, “Lazy Sway. These images help readers see how the blue singer moves. 

There are passages that create a sight such as “mellow croon” in line 3 and “Pale Dull Pallor” and “old gaslight” in line 5. Langston Hughes employed these devices in the poem to effectively full the readers and listeners into the scene.

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia is a literary device in which the sound of the thing is described as the readers hear it. In line 23 of the poem, Hughes employs onomatopoeia as “Thump, thump, thump,” to describe the sound produced by the singer’s foot.

Repetition

In the literary text, some key images and passages are repeated to emphasize the particular idea. The image of the piano, the swaying musician, and the loneliness of the singer. Through repetition, Hughes creates rhythm and also emphasizes the feeling of despair of the blues singer.