Langston Hughes '' Those Weary Blues'

INTRODUCTION

“James Mercer Langston Hughes was the most versatile, popular and influential African-American writer of the twentieth century.” Langston Hughes was born 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. At a young age his parents separated, he had a rocky road ahead of him. During his childhood he moved back and forth to his grandmother in Kansas and with his mom twice in Illinois and Ohio. Langston Hughes career began at age thirteen in his grammar school in Lincoln, Illinois, he was voted class poet. Hughes had never written poetry before, this inspired him to write some. As a gift to the class he wrote over a dozen poems to thank his fellow classmates and staff. Hughes did not stop there, he moved once more. With a little bit of experience

So much in fact that it helped mold his writing style. He incorporates the blues and jazz-like rhythms in his poetry, this was a new and exciting idea. An example can be found in his poem “The Weary Blues. The poem depicts a “Negro” swaying along “to the tune o’ those Weary Blues.” The story continues with the image of a “poor piano moan with melody.” Within this poem it is evident that the story has traces of “black themes” and “jazz rhythms.” In Harlem this is the reality, Hughes has brought this in his writing and has shown us a piece of Harlem. The environment he has been exposed to has had an effect on how he has written his

As stated earlier one of his main themes is “his concern with race, mainly in an urban setting . . .” A good example is Hughes poem “Mother to Son” the poem follows the story of a older African woman, she is recounting the days she has faced and the hardships she has gone through. In the story life is compared to stairs. At the top is a easier life; The lady has a son and she encourages him to not turn back and keep going. Langston Hughes has not had an easy life whatsoever. The reader can see a little bit of him in the mother character. She is hardworking and will not give up, no matter how hard the journey is. Harlem is a tough place. It can be seen where he draws the inspiration from. Hughes published a volume of verse entitled “Fine Clothes to the Jew.” “The poems in the new book dealt with aspects of everyday life in proletarian Harlem--fundamentalist religion, low-paying jobs, the cabaret, romance, gambling fights, prostitution, alcohol--and many of them were written in dialect cast in the form of urban folk blues the ultimate combination of aesthetic sin, according to Hughe’s detractors.” This quote shows just exactly what Harlem looked