The Weary Blues

How Musical Poetry Affected America

Introduction and Thesis

There have been many poets that we have read about through our lifetimes, whether it was in school, or just as a hobby. One of the poets we’ve read about and studied goes by the name of Langston Hughes and the book and poem that the student will be discussing is “The Weary Blues”, and its effects on society and especially African American culture, as well as the impression Hughes work left and how his legacy can still be felt today. Hughes style regarding his poetry can also be seen as mainly influenced from the African American musical styles at the time including Jazz and the Blues and the manner at which they are played including the vocal style (Rabas, 2011). In short, Hughes used the musical styles he had heard and incorporated them into his poetry to showcase life in America as an African American.

About the Author

Although Langston Hughes was a very private person, he was born in 1902 in Joplin, Missouri and through his work, he became one of the most taught, accomplished and recognized African American poets of all time (Kelley, 2017). Most of Hughes work can be considering to be centered around the Harlem Renaissance movement, which was a time period between the 1920s to the 1930s where African American literature and musical styles took form of an expression of what it was like to live in America as an African American at that time. However, even past the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes continued his work and released a multitude of poems, essays, novels, short stories and many other writings that can be connected to many other African American movements including the Civil Rights movement. Despite the popularity and recognition Hughes received for his work, several literally analysists believed that Langston’s form of writing was undeserving of the notoriety it gained due to the simplicity of the techniques Hughes used, stating it is “far too simple to be admired” (Kelley, 2017). Langston Hughes life came to an end on May 22nd of 1967 due to prostate cancer and was not succeeded by a wife or kids as he was never married, but there was some question about his sexuality because he had never been seen with a woman romantically.

About the Book

The Weary Blues can be considering one of the keystone publications of Langston Hughes career. This is also one of the first times Hughes used the Blues as his inspiration for the type of style this poem and many others after it used. The poem itself describes Hughes sitting in a more run-down part of town listening to an elderly African American singing in a somber tone, what can be described as a sad but determined struggle living in America as an African American. The poem itself ended up winning the first-place prize in a contest sponsored by Opportunity Magazine and successfully launched Hughes first full book publication (Cone, 2013). However, to understand Hughes expressional style, the musical style of the Blues needs to be understood. In a typical Blues song, most lyrics are repeated in AAB style where the final line changes to break up the pattern of a fairly repetitious song (Rabas, 2011). This type of lyrical verse, as Hughes describes, allows the singer or poet to live out the struggles of life more emotionally or just to simply have fun.

The Legacy

Although The Weary Blues was written when Langston was just a teenager, his poems still to this day are some of the most influential writings regarding African American lifestyles in the United States. Having lived though most major events occurring in America regarding racism, The Weary Blues educates though “themes of bondage and victimization as well as of constructive work” (Grandel, 1997). Even from the racial issues that plague today’s society, can be heard through more recent blues songs that share similar bars with that of Hughes poetry, connecting the past to the present and possible future. Hughes poetry did receive some backlash concerning some of his styles. However, most critics found his take of modernism in his writing to compliment how many struggling African Americans felt living in America at that time. “Hughes uses black linguistic and musical forms to convey a sense of the collective memory and voice of African Americans” (Hokanson, 104).

Works Cited

Biography.com Editors. “Langston Hughes.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 29 Jan. 2021, www.biography.com/writer/langston-hughes.

Cone, Temple. “‘The Weary Blues.’” Encyclopedia of American Poetry, 2-Volume Set, Second Edition, Facts On File, 2013. History Research Center, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=&itemid=&articleId=26356. Accessed 31 Mar. 2021.

Grandel, Hartmut. “The Role of Music in the Self-Reflexive Poetry of the Harlem Renaissance.” Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau, vol. 218, Gale, 2009. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1420090819/LitRC?u=lincclin_ecc&sid=LitRC&xid=57029d00. Accessed 31 Mar. 2021. Originally published in Poetics in the Poem: Critical Essays on American Self-Reflexive Poetry, edited by Dorothy Z. Baker, Peter Lang, 1997, pp. 119–131.

Hokanson, Robert O’Brien. “Jazzing It UP: The Be-Bop Modernism of Langston Hughes.” Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by Linda Pavlovski, vol. 102, Gale, 2001. Gale Literature Criticism, link.gale.com/apps/doc/HFNAQE105005168/LCO?u=lincclin_ecc&sid=LCO&xid=3cd55d1f. Accessed 31 Mar. 2021. Originally published in Mosaic, vol. 31, no. 4, Dec. 1998, pp. 61–82.

Kelley, James B. “How to Write about Langston Hughes.” Bloom’s How to Write about Langston Hughes, Chelsea House, 2017. History Research Center, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=&itemid=&articleId=45732. Accessed 30 Mar. 2021.

Rabas, Kevin. “Langston Hughes’s blues: key African-American musical movements and styles.” West Virginia University Philological Papers, vol. 54, 2011, p. 56+. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A306240608/LitRC?u=lincclin_ecc&sid=LitRC&xid=c9080d35. Accessed 30 Mar. 2021.