We’re always told that the “glass half empty” mentality is wrong. That negativity and sadness are emotions that you should avoid feeling. Despite this, Blues poetry often subverts the common “stay positive!” trope. In fact, negativity is a sort of staple of Blues poetry — which isn’t something you can say of other forms. Blues poems often present as more melancholic, utilizing ‘blue’ or flat notes and sadder subject matters such as “unhappy love, difficult times, hard luck, [ etc.]...” (Patterson 189). Yet they’re still cherished; why are we drawn to such negativity?
Blues poems ultimately show the nuances of negativity; that you can find beauty in sadness. We can all relate to the feelings portrayed in the poems even if we don't necessarily relate to the topic of it. Seeing the beauty or positivity that the poems express within their dark themes can help us find a means of navigating the negativity with ourselves. These poems take darker subjects to show that theres still good in the bad. Themes such as “though it may be hard now, it wont be hard forever” help give the reader a sense of hope in their own tough times. We see this balance of melancholy and serenity portrayed in Shirley Anne Williams’ poem: Any Woman’s Blues.
The poem starts with the line “every woman is a victim of the feel blues, too.” (Williams 194). This line, being the only one italicized, emphasizes the initial feeling of sadness that the poem goes on to display. The poem goes on to tell a narrative of a woman running away from her life. She’s leaving people behind on her own accord yet exerts this feeling of loneliness. The readers can relate to this poem even if we don’t relate to the woman’s specific circumstances.
By the time we fully understand her circumstances, the woman says “My life ain’t done yet. Naw. My song ain’t through.” The poem shows the hope in this saddening situation. The readers latch on to this hope, understanding that even though things are bad now, your songs over yet.
This poem shows just one instance of how Blues can portray sadness in a beautiful way. When we understand these poems as nuanced expressions of negativity, we can ultimately use them to overcome the negativity we have in our selves.
Williams, Sherley Anne. “Any Woman’s Blues” An Exaltation of Forms: Contemporary Poets Celebrate the Diversity of Their Art. Edited by Annie Finch and Kathrine Varnes, U of Michigan P, 2016, pp. 194.
