The+Weary+Blues

= **"The Weary Blues"**    = = ** By: Langston Hughes ** =

media type="file" key="caldwell blues.mov" = **//--Title//--** = "The Weary Blues" explains the poem perfectly. This poem talks abut a musician singing the blues in Harlem. The title of this poem reflects the overall mood of the poem. = //**--Author--**//  = The author is Langston Hughes. He spent most of his adult life in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance. At this time, Harlem was a "magnet" for black artists of all kinds. The blues basically describe the time period and what ever is going through. Hughes wanted to tell people the stories of his people in ways that reflected their actual culture, including their suffering, their love of music, laughter, and language itself. = **//--Genre//**--  = This is a narrative poem. "The Weary Blues" tells a story of a man singing the blues in Harlem. = //**--Form**//--  = There are 7 stanzas containing 5 lines in each. Most of the stanzas are complete thoughts but there are few that continue the same thought, such as a repetitive line into the next stanza. This is a free verse poem, that is a poem that does not have regular patterns or rhyme and meter. The lines in the poem create more of a rhythmic feel then every day human speech. How this poem is set up really helps the reader get the point. The author chose this form to really depict the main details in the poem. = //--Imagery//-- = __**Audiable**__ "A drowsy syncopted tune" Line one "I heard a Negro play" Line three "he made the poor piano moan with melody" Line ten "In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone" Line seventeen "thump, thump thump went his foot on the floor" Line twenty-three

__**Sight**__ "swaying to and fro on his rickety stool" Line twelve "stars went out, and so did the moon" Line thirty-two

__**Touch**__ "with his ebony hands on each ivory key" Line nine

= //--Other Elements--// = The overall mood of this poem is depressed, and mournful. The man in the poem sings that he is not happy and would rather be dead. The writer uses repetition to repeat "Oh Blues!" to show the sad emotion in "The Weary Blues"

= //--Figurative Language--// =

__Personification:__
"Droning a drowsy syncopated tune" line 1 "He made that poor piano moan with melody" line 10 "He slept like a rock or a man that's dead" line 35

__Similes:__
"He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool" line 13 "He slept like a rock..." line 35

__Allusion:__
"Down on Lenox Avenue the other night" line 4

__Allegory__:
The blues at this time basically represents the life and hardships that everyone's going through, It goes through how music is their life and nothing will come between their music and their lives.

= //--Devices of Sound--// = = =

__Consonance:__
"By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light" line 5

__Onomatopoeia__:
"Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor" line 23

T**his poem is about a man singing the blues during the Jazz Age, and it clearly shows the mood of that time. Lines 27-29 show the depression that was felt by many people. Lines 19 and 20 show the feeling of despair, and the belief that they could not rely on others for support. Lines 33 to 35 the singer may have committed suicide due to built up anxiety, and or a feeling of lost hope. The poem as an overall piece is a sad, and mournful poem.
 * What does "The Weary Blues" mean to me?
 * -Erika**

"The Weary Blues" represents a lot of sorrow and hardships. "By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light" (line 5) gives the reader a sense of tiredness and being worn out. A common theme throughout the poem represents a sense of just being sick of everything. From background knowledge, African Americans in this time period expressed their hardships, such as racism and segregation, through their arts. "Aint got nobody in all this world/Aint got nobody but ma self." (lines 19-20) shows how people were alone during this time period. They had nothing to look forward to but playing their blues. The line "He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool" (line 13) shows that the musician's music was depressing and it almost seemed foolish to play such a song. "The Weary Blues" by Langston Hughes really represents a person woe in a world of harsh reality. -Megan