My Weary Blues by Langston Hughes - Essay Example

My Favourite Poem -- “My Weary Blues” by Langston Hughes Of the vast number of literary works that have since flourished different cultures of the world and enriched various minds heretofore, I must confess having had deep appreciation of poetries especially those that depict the essence of understanding history with respect to the issue of race and color. In this regard, the poem “My Weary Blues” by Langston Hughes occurs to be a piece of profound interest to me as it communicates the excruciating sentiments of the black community against racial injustice via language and rhythmic pattern that is chiefly characteristic of sound, principle, and attitude in an Afro-American sense. Through “My Weary Blues”, Hughes sheds light to the reality of how black musicians of Harlem in the past struggled to cope with socio-cultural conflict with the whites who seemed predominantly disposed to harm and ridicule them. Essentially, the narrative structure of “My Weary Blues” consists of a speaker in the first person viewpoint whom Hughes rendered to provide a melancholic yet creative account of a Negro player at Lenox Avenue. As such speaker explores his audio-visual observations of the musician under his intent watch, he may readily be felt to have become so drawn toward the music that he acquires for himself the beat and its story in the process. This is quite evident in the poem’s opening “Drowning a drowsy syncopated tune, / Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon” and on the sixth and seventh lines that repeat “He did a lazy sway ....” which altogether exhibit the nature of blues rhythm in part. Hughes himself is a black poet who understood the grave concerns of his kind at the time so that on this ground, he necessitates the identity of the listener in the work to be, just as he is, a dark-complexioned individual. A critical reader manages to affirm this in the manner by which the listening speaker reflects in his attitude and tone the theme of the piano player’s task. Adding “To the tune o’ those Weary Blues”, he may be perceived to assume a character who shares similar feelings about the blues or a particular melodic creation which any black person may be identified with. In praise of his dark-skinned fellow, Hughes’ protagonist expresses how he becomes affected at depth by the pianist, stating “With his ebony hands on each ivory key / He made that poor piano moan with melody.” His conspicuous reference to color and contrasts between black and white through ‘ebony’ and ‘ivory’, respectively, manifests a suppressed message of indifference and provocation. Steadily bearing witness to the sight of instrumentation, he proceeds to exclaim “O Blues! ... Sweet Blues! ... O Blues!” in three separate lines, recognizing fully how these blues are “Coming from a black man’s soul.” To this extent, a reader who could visualize the situation may be encouraged to draw on poignant recollection of black music where distinctive blues can be instantly linked to jazz, soul, rhythm and blues, all of which convey the uniqueness of an African American style and culture. Designated at the south of Harlem in the state of New York, Lenox Avenue signifies a place where American whites flocked to confer with each other and seek greater advantage over their black counterparts. It used to be known as Malcolm Boulevard in commemoration of the civil rights leadership of Malcolm X and though Lenox Avenue is situated in the upper side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, the narrator points out in the fourth line “Down on Lenox Avenue the other night” with the use of the preposition ‘down’ to allude irony which illustrates the contempt held by black people against spots or places dominated by the whites who generally mistreated them for possessing inferior color and racial origins. With this knowledge in mind, it is perceptible that ‘colorism’ undoubtedly applies even to such fields as arts and music in which there emerged dissonance instead of harmony among the artists and wealthy sponsors who are divided by color and ethnic orientation. “My Weary Blues” serves as a plea to abolish ‘colorism’ from the behavior of society at the time. for the advancement of this cause, hence, the period of Harlem Renaissance brought Hughes to compose “My Weary Blues” and some other lyrical pieces that form Hughes’ poetics and similarly demonstrate the voice of protest for the sake of the blacks. Equal civil rights, regardless of color, collectively make the principal objective of the movement in which Hughes had been a crucial part of that writing poetries in such fashion as his rendition of “My Weary Blues” had taken the role of being an instrument of high importance. By closer scrutiny of the poem’s details, the musical term ‘blues’ represents a genre invented by the blacks and though history has helped us ascertain the major attribute of black culture via the nature of the blues sound, for Hughes, the long-term inequality and moral standards set by the superior white race against those of opposite color remain an issue that requires liberation. “Weary” is the instrumentalist who, according to the Negro listener goes “Thump, thump, thump” playing “a few chords” and singing a few more until he lies down to rest. Keenly does the lyrical observer take into account the way the exhaustive tunes concretely present the Negro player who, in turn, has influenced him to adopt the same old blues that have been granted justice well enough for the singing narrator to find himself equivalently retiring from the habit. Hughes’ work concludes on the speaker’s hearing of “I got the Weary Blues. / And I can’t be satisfied. / Got the Weary Blues / And can’t be satisfied -- ” which finalizes to “I ain’t happy no mo’ / And wish that I had died.” No matter how exquisite the potentials are of the skilled black man in pleasing the crowd or drawing anyone’s attention to find meaning in his wonderful instrumental act, it is as though he could hardly bring himself to realize the right fulfillment for he has not completely attained social freedom. With the aid of the man who narrates the substance of his rather emotional show, Hughes is able to make “My Weary Blues” exude not just the passion of a black musician from Harlem, but even project the heart of hopes and dreams which every negro has been yearning to achieve upon deliverance. The personification in “The stars went out and so did the moon” and the simile in “He slept like a rock or a man that’s dead” both speak of the natural elements which ought to grant some haven for the black piano man whose spirit has ‘worn out’ over the battle for social equality. Read More