HistoryJazz Poetry is defined and informed by Jazz music. The poetry, like the music, embodies a variety of forms, rhythms and sounds. Jazz poets use their appreciation for music as poetic inspiration and could be closely related to the Harlem Renaissance, The Beat Generation and the Black Arts Movement. The movement is still alive today with the incorporation of early blues and smooth jazz. Louis Armstrong, Langston Hughes, John Coltrane, and Miles Davis were some of the most recognizable influences in the Jazz Poetry movement.
AnalysisHughes writes about how the man plays the piano until he gets weary, but continues to play every night with a melancholy tone in his voice. He also mentions many aspects that can relate to the Harlem Renaissance such as the music. The poem reflects the Jazz Poetry movement when the poet writes about the jazz, along with the forms, rhythms and sounds.
Literary DevicesOnomatopoeia-This literary devices in used when the poet describes how
the musician taps his foot while playing his piano and says “Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on
the floor.”
Simile- The author uses this literary device when he says the musician “slept like a rock or a man that’s dead” This literary devices is used to give the reader a connection to the poem. It can also help to explain an authors tone and mood. Anthropomorphism- The author uses an example of anthropomorphism when he speaks about the moans coming from the piano. Pianos cannot moan but the musician makes it seem like it is making a noise that is similar to a moan. |
The Weary Blues
BY LANGSTON HUGHES Droning a drowsy syncopated tune, Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon, I heard a Negro play. Down on Lenox Avenue the other night By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light He did a lazy sway. . . . He did a lazy sway. . . . To the tune o’ those Weary Blues. With his ebony hands on each ivory key He made that poor piano moan with melody. O Blues! Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool. Sweet Blues! Coming from a black man’s soul. O Blues! In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan-- “Ain’t got nobody in all this world, Ain’t got nobody but ma self. I’s gwine to quit ma frownin’ And put ma troubles on the shelf.” Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor. He played a few chords then he sang some more-- “I got the Weary Blues And I can’t be satisfied. Got the Weary Blues And can’t be satisfied-- I ain’t happy no mo’ And I wish that I had died.” And far into the night he crooned that tune. The stars went out and so did the moon. The singer stopped playing and went to bed While the Weary Blues echoed through his head. He slept like a rock or a man that’s dead. Langston Hughes, “The Weary Blues” from Collected Poems. Copyright © 1994 by The Estate of Langston Hughes |