The Weary Blues (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Langston Hughes
- First Published: 1923
- Type of Work: Poem
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: African Americans, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Music or musicians, New York City, 1920’s, Emotions, Death or dying, Depression, mental, Loneliness, Joy or sorrow, Piano music, Night
“The Weary Blues” is about a piano player Hughes knew in Harlem. According to critic Edward J. Mullen, Hughes called “The Weary Blues” his “lucky poem” because it placed first in a literary contest sponsored by the National Urban League in 1925. Unlike “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” however, “The Weary Blues” received greatly mixed reviews from both black and white critics. It was called everything from a masterpiece to doggerel.
The work blends jazz, blues, and poetry into powerful lyric poetry. The narrator's voice begins the poem:
Droning a drowsy...
[The entire page is 655 words long]
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