the weary blues poetry essay

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The Weary Blues Summary & Analysis by Langston Hughes

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis
• Poetic Devices
• Vocabulary & References
• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme
• Line-by-Line Explanations

Langston Hughes's “The Weary Blues,” first published in 1925, describes a black piano player performing a slow, sad blues song. This performance takes place in a club in Harlem, a segregated neighborhood in New York City. The poem meditates on the way that the song channels the suffering and injustice of the black experience in America, transforming that suffering into something beautiful and cathartic. The poem thus reflects on the immense beauty of black art—and the immense pain that lies beneath it.

• Read the full text of “The Weary Blues”

The Full Text of “The Weary Blues”

1 Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,

2 Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,

3     I heard a Negro play.

4 Down on Lenox Avenue the other night

5 By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light

6     He did a lazy sway. . . .

7     He did a lazy sway. . . .

8 To the tune o’ those Weary Blues.

9 With his ebony hands on each ivory key

10 He made that poor piano moan with melody.

11     O Blues!

12 Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool

13 He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool.

14     Sweet Blues!

15 Coming from a black man’s soul.

16     O Blues!

17 In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone

18 I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan—

19     “Ain’t got nobody in all this world,

20     Ain’t got nobody but ma self.

21     I’s gwine to quit ma frownin’

22     And put ma troubles on the shelf.”

23 Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.

24 He played a few chords then he sang some more—

25     “I got the Weary Blues

26     And I can’t be satisfied.

27     Got the Weary Blues

28     And can’t be satisfied—

29     I ain’t happy no mo’

30     And I wish that I had died.”

31 And far into the night he crooned that tune.

32 The stars went out and so did the moon.

33 The singer stopped playing and went to bed

34 While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.

35 He slept like a rock or a man that’s dead.

“The Weary Blues” Summary

“the weary blues” themes.

The Pain and Beauty of Black Art

• See where this theme is active in the poem.

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Weary Blues”

Droning a drowsy syncopated tune, Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,     I heard a Negro play.

Down on Lenox Avenue the other night By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light     He did a lazy sway. . . .     He did a lazy sway. . . . To the tune o’ those Weary Blues.

With his ebony hands on each ivory key He made that poor piano moan with melody.     O Blues! Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool.

Lines 14-18

Sweet Blues! Coming from a black man’s soul.     O Blues! In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan—

Lines 19-22

    “Ain’t got nobody in all this world,     Ain’t got nobody but ma self.     I’s gwine to quit ma frownin’     And put ma troubles on the shelf.”

Lines 23-24

Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor. He played a few chords then he sang some more—

Lines 25-30

    “I got the Weary Blues     And I can’t be satisfied.     Got the Weary Blues     And can’t be satisfied—     I ain’t happy no mo’     And I wish that I had died.”

Lines 31-35

And far into the night he crooned that tune. The stars went out and so did the moon. The singer stopped playing and went to bed While the Weary Blues echoed through his head. He slept like a rock or a man that’s dead.

“The Weary Blues” Symbols

• See where this symbol appears in the poem.

“The Weary Blues” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

End-stopped line.

• See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

Alliteration

Onomatopoeia, “the weary blues” vocabulary.

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Mellow Croon
• Lenox Avenue
• See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Weary Blues”

Rhyme scheme, “the weary blues” speaker, “the weary blues” setting, literary and historical context of “the weary blues”, more “the weary blues” resources, external resources.

Hughes Reads "The Weary Blues" — The poet reads "The Weary Blues" with a blues band accompanying him. (Hughes begins reading the poem around the 1:40 mark).

More on Hughes's Life — A detailed biography of Langston Hughes from the Poetry Foundation.

The Harlem Renaissance — A detailed article on the history of the Harlem Renaissance from the Poetry Foundation.

"What Is the Blues?" — A brief history of the blues from PBS.

200 Years of Afro-American Poetry — An article by Hughes from the 1960s, in which he lays out his understanding of the history of African American poetry.

LitCharts on Other Poems by Langston Hughes

As I Grew Older

Aunt Sue's Stories

Daybreak in Alabama

Dream Variations

I Look at the World

Let America Be America Again

Mother to Son

Night Funeral in Harlem

The Ballad of the Landlord

Theme for English B

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

• Quizzes, saving guides, requests, plus so much more.

• Vernaculars in “The Weary Blues” by Langston Hughes Words: 775
• The Impact of Art of Langston Hughes Words: 1904
• Poem Analysis: Langston Hughes Words: 1105
• Langston Hughes’ Biography Words: 1442
• Wilson and Hughes’ Portrayal of African Americans Words: 1345
• Analyzing Langston Hughes’s Poetry Words: 678
• Langston Hughes’ Love in “Fantasy in Purple” Words: 500
• American Literature: Harlem by Langston Hughes Words: 560
• The Origin of Blues Music Genre Words: 572
• Structure of Langston Hughes’ Harlem Poem Words: 828
• “Mother to Son” Poem by Langston Hughes Words: 554

The Weary of the Blues by Langston Hughes

In this The Weary Blues analysis essay, you will find plenty of information about the poem’s literary devices, metaphors, and themes. Check it out and get inspired.

The Weary Blues Analysis Essay: Introduction

Langston hughes’ the weary blues analysis: conclusion.

Langston Hughes was an African American born in 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. He started writing early in his life. His work addressed African American issues. He chose to write about African Americans to highlight the issues they encountered in the society. He also wanted to represent his race and show that it had a rich culture. He wrote the poem The Weary Blues in 1923. The poem is representative of his work.

The poem The Weary Blues was written at a time when there was an increased interest in African American art. Langston Hughes wrote the poem in Harlem and people noticed it because it was very different from the poetry of that time. His poem was like jazz because he got his inspiration from blues. He used words to write and describe blues that reflected the feelings of African Americans.

Langton Hughes communicated in this poem written in blues using words alone. This kind of writing is difficult but Hughes uses the blues in the poem successfully. For instance, he uses words that give the poem musicality that helps to express complex emotions that are easily expressed through blues and jazz.

The poem employs techniques such as alliteration for instance in line 1 “Droning a drowsy syncopated tune” (Hughes 1), the ‘O’ sound in drowning and drowsy imitate a man’s yawning sound. In the words syncopated and tune, there is the alliteration of the ‘T’ sound that mimics the sound of music. Thus through the choice of words Hughes lets us hear the music that the musician was playing.

The repetition in the poem enables the audience to get into the mournful tempo that is brought about by the diction. For instance, in line 1 the musician is drowning and swaying as he plays the piano. The audience also sways with him because they become engrossed in the mood that he creates with the notes he plays on his piano. The singer is able to express his feelings and give the audience a chance to express theirs too as they sway to the blues. He also uses the word raggy, which could represent the difficult lives of African Americans.

The speaker says, “I heard a Negro play/ down on Lenox Avenue” (Hughes 3-4) which is located in Harlem an area where mainly African Americans lived. The reason for mentioning the location where the Negro played was important to let the audience know that the singer was black. The poem was written during the renaissance when African Americans artists gained recognition in the white community.

Thus by telling us that the Negro was playing down the Lenox Avenue he shows us that he was playing in an area where the whites mainly lived that is downtown. This means that the white community was opening up to African Americans art. Moreover, playing at this location shows that whites also experienced blues and jazz music that is attributed to African Americans who composed it out of pain and suffering brought about by the social conditions at the time.

During this time, African Americans were under the oppression of the whites and they did not have equal opportunities. Thus, they came up with the jazz and blues music as a way of venting out their frustrations. They also wanted to affirm their humanity in the midst of racism.

Hughes work represents African Americans condition using these words ‘Coming from a black man’s soul” (Hughes 15). The singer sings moaning blues that reveal the black man’s soul. The soul is not at rest due to the many problems surrounding it and the blues help the black man to cope with his situation.

The blues reveal the singer’s life, which is also similar to the life of all the other African American. After he finishes speaking he goes on to sleep soundly as a rock because he has expressed his feelings through the blues he was playing and the melody of the blues continue to ring in his head.

Hughes’ work during the renaissance era was aimed at defining African Americans. In the poem, The Weary Blues Hughes did just that by pointing out the African American culture and tradition- the blues. Through singing blues, African Americans were expressing their identity. The singer in the poem is a Negro, Hughes tells us of his race because he wants his fellow African Americans to embrace their color and stand out of the crowd without feeling ashamed for being black.

For instance, in line 9 he talks of ebony hands that played the ivory keys because he is not ashamed of his color and brings it up in the poem. Moreover, the ebony color represents the suffering that the African Americans went through in the society. In line 25, 28 and 29 the singer says he has troubles and cannot be satisfied.

The poem represents Hughes work well because it captures the experiences of African Americans. Using the blues, Hughes emphasizes the African American tradition of blues, which gave them a redefinition of their identity. The blues were a source of pride for the African Americans and showed their artistic creativity and expression. For example, the singer was able to use a white musical instrument to express his feelings using his blues as in the poem he made the piano moan.

The title of the poem The Weary Blues captures the weariness that African Americans felt due to the struggles they had to go through in the society. However, the same blues helped them to relax as we see the singer saying he will quit frowning in line 21. It is also important to note that the weariness was shared across the African American generations. Thus, the poem passes the underlying message in Hughes’ work that exposes the plight of African Americans.

Hughes, Langston. Literature An introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing . Eleventh Ed. New York: Longman Publishing, 2008.

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The Weary Blues

by Langston Hughes

Droning a drowsy syncopated tune, Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon, I heard a Negro play . Down on Lenox Avenue the other night By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light He did a lazy sway. . . . He did a lazy sway. . . . To the tune o’ those Weary Blues. With his ebony hands on each ivory key He made that poor piano moan with melody. O Blues! Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool. Sweet Blues! Coming from a black man’s soul. O Blues! In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan— “Ain’t got nobody in all this world, Ain’t got nobody but ma self. I’s gwine to quit ma frownin’ And put ma troubles on the shelf.” Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor. He played a few chords then he sang some more— “I got the Weary Blues And I can’t be satisfied. Got the Weary Blues And can’t be satisfied— I ain’t happy no mo’ And I wish that I had died.” And far into the night he crooned that tune. The stars went out and so did the moon. The singer stopped playing and went to bed While the Weary Blues echoed through his head. He slept like a rock or a man that’s dead.

Summary of The Weary Blues

• Popularity of “The Weary Blues”: This poem was written by Langston Hughes, a great American writer and poet. The Weary Blues is a lyrical poem about pain. It was first published in 1962. The poem speaks about the melancholic song the African person sings or sang before the civil rights, all through the night. It also reflects the poet’s response toward pain and death.
• “The Weary Blues” As Representative of Sorrow: The poem, having a brutal tone, presents the miserable plight of an African American who expresses his sorrow in his song. The poem begins when the speaker describes him playing a drowsy syncopated melody on Lenox Avenue a few nights ago. The poet, being a close examiner, explains how he was using his black hands to press the ivory keys of a worn piano. The poor piano produced a heart-warming melody despite its wear and tear. He played and sang in his deep melancholic voice as if he was alone in this world: he had got nobody to call his own. He swore that he would deal with his miseries by himself and would live freely by throwing all his anxieties away. As there seemed nobody who could care about his pain, therefore, he used blues as a mode to express his grief. Thus, he sang all night even the stars and the moon went out. At last, he stopped playing and went to his bed like a dead man. What, however, stays in the minds of the readers the way the speaker highlights the pain of that black man.
• Major Themes in “The Weary Blues”: Miseries, pain, and death are the central themes underlined in the poem. The poem reflects upon two things: the sad but melodic song of the African American and the speaker’s close examination of his feelings. The negro chooses music as a channel to relieve himself from pain and anxiety. His sad melody clearly hints at the hardships he might have faced in the past. It seems that he sings not for the public but for himself. He plays that song till late at night and then goes to sleep. He sleeps so hard as if after outpouring his heart, his soul has departed his body.

Analysis of Literary Devices Used in “The Weary Blues”

literary devices bring richness to the text and help the readers understand the story visually with hidden meanings. Langston Hughes has also made this poem superb by using figurative language . Here is the analysis of some literary devices used in this poem.

• Assonance : Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the sound of /i/ and /ai/ in “I’s gwine to quit ma frownin” and the sound of /o/ in “Droning a drowsy syncopated tune.”
• Alliteration : Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick succession such as the sound of /d/ and /l/ in “He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool.”
• Anaphora : It refers to the repetition of a word or expression in the first part of some verses. Kate has repeated the words “He did a lazy sway” in the first stanza of the poem to emphasize the point. For example,

“He did a lazy sway. . . . He did a lazy sway.”

• Enjambment : It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break ; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example,

“The singer stopped playing and went to bed While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.”

• Imagery : Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. For example, “Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor”, “The singer stopped playing and went to bed” and “While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.”
• Onomatopoeia : It refers to the words which imitate the natural sounds of things around us. The poet has used the word “thump” in the second stanza such as; “Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.”
• Symbolism : Symbolism is the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities, by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal meanings. Here, “song” symbolizes the pain and loneliness of the singer.

Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in “The Weary Blues”

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.

• End Rhyme : End rhyme is used to make the stanza melodious. The poet has used end rhyme in this poem. For example, “floor”, “more”, “tune” and “moon.”
• Repetition : There is a repetition of the verse “He did a lazy sway,” which has created a musical quality in the poem.
• Refrain : The lines that are repeated at some distance in the poems are called refrain . The verse, “He did a lazy sway” appears again and again that it has become a refrain.
• Stanza : A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are two stanzas in this poem and each varies in length.

Quotes to be Used

The lines stated below are useful in a speech delivered to express the trauma of loneliness and poverty .

“Ain’t got nobody in all this world, Ain’t got nobody but ma self.”

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