Elizabeth Palacios

September 17, 2018

FIQWS – HA16

Mr. David  Crohn

The Pain of an African American  

One can only empathize for an African American’s hardships in the 20th century but will never undergo the heartaches and misery they had to endure. During the 1920s a movement known as the Harlem Renaissance emerged; also known as the, “New Negro Movement,” this was a period where African Americans began to contribute their intelligence to society, and an African American culture began to develop. Through the literacy and fine arts, future generations will experience the racism and prejudices that were present at the given time. An influential figure that helped innovate the movement through literature was Langston Hughes, “The Weary Blues” being one of his most famous contributions. Hughes uses a persona to share an experience the narrator encountered one night. The narrator witnesses a black musician playing a sorrowful tone. Throughout “The Weary Blues”, Hughes employs literary devices to strengthen his poem and convey a message of the pain and suffering African Americans were enduring.

The speaker begins with this sense of Jazz music, “Droning a drowsy syncopated tune” (1). Jazz music had an unusual choppy-liked style, syncopated rhythms, and swingy feeling. The speaker already starts by telling us what he hears, a sleepy humbling-like tune that has a “rocking back and forth” (line 2) rhythm. As he describes the music, he mimics the same rhythm of the musician throughout the poem. This helps the reader feel the same relaxed tune, he felt that night. He continues, introducing us to who is playing the tunes, “I heard a Negro play.” Using descriptive diction to inform the reader, when and where he saw the African American play. “Down on Lenox Avenue the other night” (4). The speaker uses imagery to create an image in the reader’s head. “By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light.” (5) the speaker wants the readers to visualize a dull setting that lacks light due to an old gas lamp, the reader not only pictures the gloomy environment, but one can also feel the atmosphere.

Later in the poem, we discover that the musician is playing a tune that is sorrowful, letting his pain out “I got the Weary Blues, and I can’t be satisfied.” He sang his soul out that night in a beautiful, laid-back composure. Hughes uses several literary devices that empowers the poem to be entertaining. Using onomatopoeia “Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.” (23-24) To explain the man’s sync to the music. Another literary device Hughes used was personification, “Poor piano moan with melody.” (Line 10) Telling the reader that the piano “moans” is giving the piano human abilities. Furthermore, the musician goes on discussing how he is miserable, and nothing can ever make him satisfied again. Expressing his pain of being alone in this world with no one but himself and wishes to be dead.

We can see African American culture through Hughes work. Hughes influenced many other writers and artist to express themselves about their struggles living in a white society. Many critics can agree on the beauty of “The Weary Blues,” message. One critic stated “The poem is a fitting opening not only to this volume but all of Hughes’s volumes. It combines traditional blues stanzas that emphasize the roots of the African-American experience, touches of vaudeville blues as the roots were being ‘refined,’ pride in African-American creativity and forms of expression, and a sense of the weariness that ties together generations of African-Americans.”  (Tracy C. Steven  pg. 1). The poem demonstrates African American’s misery and grief, using music and other literary devices to cope with repressed emotions. Through these forms of expressions and communications, they established a value of identity and culture.

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.