Transformative Possibilities In The Weary Blues By Langston Hughes

Born on February 1, 1902 and raised in New York City very own Harlem, Hughes would prove to be one of the most significant writers and thinkers of the Harlem Renaissance. In 1926 Hughes published one of his many symbolic poems Weary Blues. The Weary Blues is a poem that was able to fuse together poetry, jazz and blues which describes one of the distinctive characteristics of the “New Negro” of the Harlem Renaissance. The Weary Blues portrays the overcrowded conditions and employment difficulties blacks faced in Harlem. Those who suffered from ambiguity because of lack of monetary resources and basic luxuries: In a deep song voice with a melancholy

Historically countries, such as America, have muted and failed to addressed the social injustices against minority groups. Although America is considered to be the “melting pot,” it continues to face issues regarding freedom and justice for all of its citizens. Langston Hughes, who was a writer and social activist, wrote poetry during the Harlem Renaissance which addressed the social issues facing African Americans and minority groups. Allusion, anaphora, and rhyme scheme are employed by Hughes in his poem, “Let America Be America Again” in order to show how false America’s claims of equality and “Justice for all” are.

‘Be Music, Night’ by Kenneth Patchen is an intriguing piece of literary art. A picture is painted of human interaction with Earth immediately. The manner in which humans fall into her beauty and vastness is apparent in even the first lines of Patchen’s poem, but why is this important?

Memories are dear fragments of the past connecting it to the present through a sense of nostalgia. These links are what keep us grounded to reality and allow us to progress through life. In the poem “Still Memory” by Mary Karr, the author portrays the memory of a child suffering from anterograde amnesia, an ailment defined as the loss of the ability to create memories after an event that caused amnesia. Thus, the theme of the poem is the attempt to retain and remember the memories and events that transpire throughout the child’s life. This is shown through a use of imagery and diction.

An innumerable amount of poems have been written over the history of humanity. With so many poems, there is an inevitable amount of similarity in the poems that exist, but on the other hand a guarantee of a certain degree of diversity. Even with two poems that seem to be exactly the same, one might find that they have contrasting elements upon dissecting them, and vice-versa. An example of two poems like this are “The Lanyard” by Billy Collins and “The Gift” by Li-Young Lee. Both poems contain like themes, similar yet disparate tones, and differ in their language use.

In his pom entitled “Evening Hawk”, Robert Penn Warren characterizes human nature by a transition between the flight of the hawk during the day and that of the bat, or the “Evening Hawk” during the night. The hawk, as it soars in daylight, portrays how humans appear in clear light of their peers, while the bat, cruising the night sky, symbolizes what humans hide within themselves. Warren effectively expresses the meaning of this poem and its serious mood by the use of diction and imagery to appeal to the reader’s perception of sight and sound.

His three poems: The Cat and The Saxophone (2 A.M.), Harlem Night Club, and Jazzonia all exemplify his experimentation with form. Hughes writes two poems in one, he emphasizes the smallest physical features, and he disrupts the continuity of a poem that looks tame from afar. An ordinary object like a saxophone becomes as cherished as a lover. An ordinary venue like a cabaret becomes the site of political and social change. And an ordinary pleasure like jamming to music becomes an ahistorical and biblical act. Furthermore, the superficial simplicity of Hughes’ poems is not meant to deceive, but to encourage readers to engage in poetry from different perspectives because there is more to the poem than meets the eye. Additional questions remain, however. Does Hughes’ experimentation with form threaten to mischaracterize or further objectify the subjects of his poetry? Does Hughes ascribe too much value to these ordinary objects and places? Are there limitations to Hughes’ experimentation? Can experimentation in general fail, and what’s an example of a failed experiment with form? What harm could a failed experiment with form cause? So then, can a book also be a hat? Maybe it can. Maybe it cannot. Hughes would tell you to experiment and discover the answer yourself.

Paul Laurence Dunbar was one of the most influential black poets of the 1980’s. Dunbar is best known for his poems written in dialect. A prime example of Dunbar 's work in Dialect is his poem “An Easy Goin ' Feller”. He was able to expand his audience beyond the black working class to whites as well. He was able to this by making his poems seem more human and easier for his audience to relate to. Dunbar was a self educated poet and publisher with high goals for himself. These goals come to haunt him later on in his life. Critics did not feel the same way he did about blacks, and they criticized his writings for his likings. Him growing up following the civil rights movement influenced his writing tramentisly. Dunbar was the son two former

Considered very significant to numerous people, happiness and external appearances plays a part in themes of various works. Therefore, these themes of people’s happiness and outward looks are usually ones that many people want to experience. Reading works with these themes can allow the reader to view the subject within the author’s point of view. Poems with these themes lets the readers understand the topic through new eyes, and they may even inspire the reader think about what is truly valuable in life. Two poems that share the themes of happiness and external appearances are Marge Percy’s “Barbie Doll” and Edwin Robinson’s “Richard Cory”. Through these themes of the poems, they show what the minds and lives of those whose lives revolve around

Hughes makes metaphorical strides to an issue that still exists and is debated today; Despite radical progression racial equality still exists in modern society. Lloyd Brown, a white journalist states, “The assertion that ‘liberty and justice… for all’ is a concept ‘written down for white folks,” (2). Lloyd spent extensive time reviewing African Americans literature, from the civil war through the civil rights movement. This idea of an exclusionary unequal society is a featured theme in Dream Variation through the use the day to night metaphor. Line seventeen, “Night Come Tenderly/ is Hughes beckoning for civil rights. Dream Variation embodies the poet's views on equality and the American Dream.

In “Introduction to Poetry” Billy Collins uses the poet’s point of view to describe how poetry should and should not be analyzed. The poem’s imagery conveys how poetry is an art to be enjoyed, but academic settings create animosity towards poetry. The title refers to the scholastic setting of an English class focused on breaking down the elements of poetry. The poem describes how poetry students miss the excitement of the senses because they are required to examine and interpret poems according to stringent rules.

William Stafford employs sounds and word choice to evoke feelings of a carefree, happy morning. Elizabeth Bishop uses punctuation and allusions in order to pass on how hard mornings are for her.

Billy Collins’s poetry is marked by - and loved for - its accessibility. His work is not too complex, and it is easier to understand than some others. The title of the poem, “Introduction to Poetry,” introduces us the theme of the poem. Throughout the poem Collins uses copious metaphors that when coalesced show the readers how to rightly read a poem and how not to.

“The Weary Blues” and “The Harlem Dancer” both have a musical setting placed in a bar where the narrators describe what’s taking place with the use of alliteration. “The Weary Blues” conveys how skilled the piano player is with the quote, “He made that poor piano moan with melody” (Hughes, line 10) compared to “The Harlem Dancer” when they describe the performer’s dancing skills, “She sang and danced on gracefully and calm” (McKay, line 5). The narrators each describe themselves as enjoying the performances taking place in their own poems. The narrator of Hughes’ poem enjoys the performance without the disturbance of others, whereas in McKay’s the narrator is surrounded by others watching the dancer, “Applauding youths

He is burdened by sadness and pain, thus leading to the word “weary” in the title. Many also assume that Hughes may have derived the title of the poem from “Weary Blues”, a song released in 1915 by African-American songwriter, pianist, and ragtime composer Artie Matthews (Shmoop). “The Weary Blues” is one of Hughes’ most recognized poems to date, and has drawn rapturous praise from innumerable critics and readers throughout the world. My thesis is that “The Weary Blues” is a noteworthy poem due to the establishment of a relaxed, yet depressing mood through the accurate portrayal of a certain blues