The Weary Blues

The context of “The Weary Blues”

“The Weary Blues” is a poem by African American poet Langston Hughes, written in 1925 during the Harlem Renaissance.

James Mercer Langston Hughes was raised by his grandmother until the age of thirteen when he moved to live with his mother. He worked several different jobs, including as a busboy, before he made a name for himself. For a brief period after high school, he lived in Mexico with his father. Langston Hughes was a key influential figure during the Harlem Renaissance, serving as a resounding voice for those experiencing discrimination.

Hughes uses the blues, a music genre that originated in the Deep South in the 1860s, to reach his audience and unite his readers. The original subject matter in blues songs expressed the pain, suffering, struggles, and hopes of the African American people regarding slavery, sharecropping, segregation, Jim Crow laws, and discrimination. As African Americans moved North, the blues evolved into a celebration of a rich culture that survived inequities.

Summary of “The Weary Blues”

“The Weary Blues” is a poem about the pain and suffering conveyed through the blues and how African Americans used this musical genre as an outlet to express their pain and struggle. By implementing elements of the blues throughout the poem, Hughes adds a strong musical and cultural element to help readers connect to it. The main figure is a black blues singer playing the piano in an establishment in Harlem. His song is about his personal experience and especially his suffering in a racist society. The message is one that most African Americans and any individual who has suffered oppression can relate to.

The poetic devices used in “The Weary Blues”

In his poem “The Weary Blues,” Hughes employs several poetic and literary devices to help establish a somber mood and emulate a blues song. Borrowing elements from the blues genre, Hughes establishes an easy rhythm and beat in this open-form poem, using assonance and consonance, rhyming couplets, onomatopoeia, and repetition throughout.

"The Weary Blues": Assonance

Hughes uses assonance to create a certain rhythm in the poem.

An example of this is found in line 13, as the musician plays his “sad, raggy tune” for the audience. The assonance used here helps to provide a musical beat. Additionally, the diction used in this description emphasizes the musician’s discontent by using personification. The tune is “sad” and “raggy,” which are words that can be used to describe the piano player as well. Hughes likely chose words with the long “a” sound to draw out the vocalization of the words and slow the pace of the poem down.

"The Weary Blues": Consonance

Hughes uses consonance to maintain a beat similar to that of the blues throughout the poem.

An example of this is found in line 1, as the piano player begins “droning a drowsy” tune. The hard “d“ sound at the onset of the poem establishes a solid beat to the blues song/poem, much like a set of drums or cymbals would. Hughes uses the sound device of consonance to emulate musical instruments. The words “droning” and “drowsy” immediately refer back to the poem’s title and remind the audience that the song, and the musician, are tired because the song itself is sleepy. The repetition also adds emphasis and emulates musical syncopation.

"The Weary Blues": Rhyming couplets

Hughes uses rhyming couplets throughout the poem to establish a cohesive tempo and link ideas together.

An example of this is seen in the last two lines of the poem, as the blues “echoes through [the piano player’s] head” and he sleeps like a rock “or a man that’s dead.” The couplet provides a perfunctory end to the blues song, making the audience feel dissatisfied with the abrupt ending. The reader feels connected to the Black blues player, as he too has feelings of dissatisfaction. The end rhyme joins the two lines together and links the idea that his song will be playing even after he goes to sleep—and long after he is dead. The battle for equality, especially during the Harlem Renaissance but also today, is endless and echoes on, like the piano player’s song.

"The Weary Blues": Onomatopoeia

Hughes uses onomatopoeia to imitate musical sounds and the heartbeat of a man, giving his soulful song strength.

An example of this can be seen in line 23, as his foot goes “thump, thump, thump” on the floor, keeping rhythm to his tune and his heartache. The sound of the musician’s foot-tapping is reminiscent of the percussions in a blues song. The onomatopoetic thumping is a stronger sound than a mere tapping. The stronger bass associated with a “thump” lends an element of power to the song played. The “thump” also emulates the sound of a heart beating, showing that his song has a life of its own and will continue longer than he will. The song will give life each time the poem is read and will help to immortalize the struggle, even after the melody in the piano player’s mind fades.

"The Weary Blues": Repetition

Hughes uses repetition for emphasis.

The repetition of the phrase “can’t be satisfied” in lines 26 and 28 shows the piano player’s deep discontent with his social and economic situation. Hughes uses repetition to highlight the frustration the piano player, African Americans, and all people who are oppressed feel. The blues player’s hopeless feelings are met with indifference, as his audience listens to his song and does not take action to alleviate his struggle. The musician “can’t be satisfied” because nothing can bring back or return what has been taken from him. The musician’s humanity, pride, happiness, and desire to live have been stripped from him.

Analysis of “The Weary Blues”

“The Weary Blues” echoes the worries of African Americans while celebrating a part of the culture that many identify with and look to when in need. Setting the speed and mood at the onset of the poem, the poetic voice begins by using a specific form of consonance called alliteration.

"The Weary Blues": Alliteration to establish the rhythm

The hard “dr” sound in the first line, “Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,” mimics the sound of a drum and begins the rhythm that will continue for the rest of the poem. Line two, “Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,” repeats the hard “ck” sound followed by a smoother “r.” These meticulously chosen words work in unison to imitate the sounds and the melodies traditionally heard in blues music and further establish a solid tempo for the poem.

"The Weary Blues": Diction to enhance the setting

Lines 3-5 tell the reader the musician is a “Negro” and provide the setting: “Down on Lenox Avenue the other night / By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light.”

The diction, or word choice, “pale dull pallor,” emphasizes a lack of vibrancy and creates a melancholy mood. The musician does a “lazy sway” to his own tune, “those Weary Blues,” signifying his exasperation. Describing the piano keys but also symbolizing much deeper social and political struggles, line 9, “With his ebony hands on each ivory key,” highlights the issues of racism and discrimination he struggles with by contrasting the colors “ebony” and “ivory.”

Fig. 1 - The piano keys are referenced to highlight the issues of racism.

"The Weary Blues": Personification to convey mood

Using both alliteration and personification, we see the “poor piano moan with melody” in line 10. The “p” sound emphasizes not the status of the piano but the emotion traveling from the musician through to the instrument, revealing the mental, emotional, economic, and social status he suffers from.

In lines 12-15, the speaker describes the “musical fool” sitting on his “rickety stool” playing a “sad raggy tune” from a “black man’s soul.” The characterization further establishes the musician’s fatigue over the troubles he faces.

"The Weary Blues": Repetition and simile for emphasis

Lines 19-22 and 25-30 detail the actual song that the “deep song voice” crooned. Through the use of the repetition of “Ain’t got nobody,” we learn that the piano player feels alone, dejected, discarded, and hopeless as he resigns himself to putting his “troubles on the shelf.” The onomatopoetic “Thump, thump, thump” of his “foot on the floor” maintains the poem’s rhythm, imitates a drum, and reminds the audience of a heartbeat. Immediately after that, we learn how dissatisfied the musician is, as he wishes he “had died.”

The poem ends with everyone going home and leaves a lasting impression through the use of simile as the “singer … went to bed” and “slept like a rock, or a man that’s dead.” The last line, comparing the singer to “a man that’s dead” and a “rock,” is a reminder of the damaging impact racism can have, but it also shows his unyielding determination for a better life as he struggles on each day.

The theme and meaning of “The Weary Blues”

“The Weary Blues” focuses on the resilience of the African American people, shares the impact that mistreatment has on the oppressed, and crosses racial boundaries by showing how music, “the blues,” can have the power to heal the soul and provide support when no one else is around. It humanizes the suffering experienced by African Americans and proves that the effects are detrimental to mental health. In the poem, the piano player speaks as a voice for all African Americans, and, although he feels alone, his song helps the audience feel connected to him, and each other.

Fig. 2 - "The Weary Blues" can be considered jazz poetry.