Langston Hughes, “The Weary Blues”(1925)

Books That Changed The World

Introduction

As we know, poems have been a part of our lives for a good long while and have been interpreted through singing, dancing, acting, etc. Poems have been written by individuals of all walks of life and are a way to express oneself feeling or emotions that one may have. The Harlem Renaissance began approximately in the 1920s and is based on the revival of African American culture, whether through dancing, singing, art, literature, theater, politics, and fashion. African Americans were treated very differently, and it was not positive. If you were black, you were treated horribly as if you were not a living person, while people who were white were considered superior. However, during the Harlem Renaissance, African American culture began to rise. Many African American artists became recognized, such as Aaron Douglas, Augusta Savage, Jacob Lawrence, Lois Mailou Jones, Langston Hughes, etc. It became even more important for the artists to continue their work. Langston Hughes created not only the poem called “The Weary Blues,” but he also made a poetry collection that was called it as well, which became a bool collection that changed the world and his literary career.

About The Author

James Mercer Langston Hughes was an African American poet born in Joplin, Missouri, on February 1, 1902, and died at Stuyvesant Polyclinic on May 22, 1967. Although Langston Hughes’s parents were separated, he lived with his father until 1914, when he went to live with his mother’s mother. When Hughes was a child, he would write poetry, and it wasn’t until 1921 when the first national publication of his work came in when the news article The Crisis published “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.” According to the report called “Langston Hughes” by Edward E. Waldron stated, “His exposure to American blues and jazz players in Paris nightclubs and his experiences in Europe, and especially in Africa, although brief, provided a rich source of material that he used over the next decades in his writing.” As you can see, his work and travel experiences allowed him to find a deeper understanding of life and other themes that he reflects on in his poems. In 1925 Washington D.C Langston had a job as a busboy when he showed his poems to Vachel Lindsay and then became known as the busboy poet. He then published his second volume of poetry, “The Weary Blues,” in 1926, along with others like “Fine Clothes To Jew” and “Not Without Laughter.” He continued writing poetry and inspiring other poets until he died in 1967.

About The Book

When Langston Hughes wrote “The Weary Blues,” it was mainly about an African American male singer in Harlem who sings with a painful and sorrowful tone and describes the musician’s location. The author’s central theme presented in the story is pain, and that can be seen when the poem uses words like “mellow,” “dull,” and “sad.” In the poem “The Weary Blues’, ‘Langston Hughes states, “Ain’t got nobody in all this world, Ain’t got nobody but ma self. I’m gwine to quit ma frownin’ And put ma troubles on the shelf.” (1987). The excerpt suggests that he is in pain from being alone and is afraid that all he can count on is himself and that, ultimately, he has no one. The only thing he must do is put everything that he is worried about on a shelf that he puts away so that he can never reflect on it and feel more sorrowful the more he dwells on it. According to Langston Hughes the poem “The Weary Blues,” he states, “Got the Weary Blues, And can’t be satisfied — I ain’t happy no mo’, And I wish that I had died.” (1987). When reading this excerpt, key phrases such as “can’t be happy” and “ain’t happy no mo” give the impression of how he feels, which isn’t very great and is downright sad.

Legacy

Langston Hughes’s “The Weary Blues” is influential because it laid the foundation for his literary career and follows Langston’s themes of fostering a new identity in black culture. According to the article “Langston Hughes” by Edward E. Waldron said, “he had lived in several cities: Buffalo, Cleveland, Lawrence and Topeka, Kansas, Colorado Springs, and Mexico City.” (2002). His experience in traveling has helped him understand and write or improve his literature, and the more that he can appreciate, the more poems he would write.

Sources

Hughes, Langston. “‘The Weary Blues.’” Bloom’s Literature, Facts On File, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=95547&itemid=WE54&primarySourceId=21875. Accessed 2 Apr. 2022.

Waldron, Edward E. “Langston Hughes.” Critical Survey of Poetry, Second Revised Edition, Sept. 2002, pp. 1–5. EBSCOhost, https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=lkh&AN=103331CSP13030168000541&site=ehost-live.