Langston Hughes's “The Weary Blues,” first published in 1925, describes a black piano player performing a slow, sad blues song. This performance takes place in a club in Harlem, a segregated neighborhood in New York City. The poem meditates on the way that the song channels the suffering and injustice of the black experience in America, transforming that suffering into something beautiful and cathartic. The poem thus reflects on the immense beauty of black art—and the immense pain that lies beneath it.
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The Full Text of “The Weary Blues”
1Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
2Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,
3 I heard a Negro play.
4Down on Lenox Avenue the other night
5By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light
6 He did a lazy sway. . . .
7 He did a lazy sway. . . .
8To the tune o’ those Weary Blues.
9With his ebony hands on each ivory key
10He made that poor piano moan with melody.
11 O Blues!
12Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool
13He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool.
14 Sweet Blues!
15Coming from a black man’s soul.
16 O Blues!
17In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone
18I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan—
19 “Ain’t got nobody in all this world,
20 Ain’t got nobody but ma self.
21 I’s gwine to quit ma frownin’
22 And put ma troubles on the shelf.”
23Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.
24He played a few chords then he sang some more—
25 “I got the Weary Blues
26 And I can’t be satisfied.
27 Got the Weary Blues
28 And can’t be satisfied—
29 I ain’t happy no mo’
30 And I wish that I had died.”
31And far into the night he crooned that tune.
32The stars went out and so did the moon.
33The singer stopped playing and went to bed
34While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.
35He slept like a rock or a man that’s dead.
The Full Text of “The Weary Blues”
1Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
2Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,
3 I heard a Negro play.
4Down on Lenox Avenue the other night
5By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light
6 He did a lazy sway. . . .
7 He did a lazy sway. . . .
8To the tune o’ those Weary Blues.
9With his ebony hands on each ivory key
10He made that poor piano moan with melody.
11 O Blues!
12Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool
13He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool.
14 Sweet Blues!
15Coming from a black man’s soul.
16 O Blues!
17In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone
18I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan—
19 “Ain’t got nobody in all this world,
20 Ain’t got nobody but ma self.
21 I’s gwine to quit ma frownin’
22 And put ma troubles on the shelf.”
23Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.
24He played a few chords then he sang some more—
25 “I got the Weary Blues
26 And I can’t be satisfied.
27 Got the Weary Blues
28 And can’t be satisfied—
29 I ain’t happy no mo’
30 And I wish that I had died.”
31And far into the night he crooned that tune.
32The stars went out and so did the moon.
33The singer stopped playing and went to bed
34While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.
35He slept like a rock or a man that’s dead.
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“The Weary Blues” Summary
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“The Weary Blues” Themes
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The Pain and Beauty of Black Art
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Weary Blues”
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Lines 1-3
Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,
I heard a Negro play. -
Lines 4-8
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. -
Lines 9-13
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. -
Lines 14-18
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— -
Lines 19-22
“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.” -
Lines 23-24
Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.
He played a few chords then he sang some more— -
Lines 25-30
“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.” -
Lines 31-35
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.
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“The Weary Blues” Symbols
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Stars
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The Moon
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“The Weary Blues” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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End-Stopped Line
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Enjambment
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Caesura
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Alliteration
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Assonance
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Consonance
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Metaphor
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Simile
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Repetition
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Onomatopoeia
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“The Weary Blues” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Droning
- Drowsy
- Syncopated
- Mellow Croon
- Negro
- Lenox Avenue
- Pallor
- Gas Light
- Sway
- o'
- Blues
- Ebony
- Ivory
- Raggy
- Fool
- Melancholy
- Ain't
- Ma
- I’s Gwine
- Mo'
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Weary Blues”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“The Weary Blues” Speaker
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“The Weary Blues” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “The Weary Blues”
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More “The Weary Blues” Resources
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External Resources
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Hughes Reads "The Weary Blues" — The poet reads "The Weary Blues" with a blues band accompanying him. (Hughes begins reading the poem around the 1:40 mark).
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More on Hughes's Life — A detailed biography of Langston Hughes from the Poetry Foundation.
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The Harlem Renaissance — A detailed article on the history of the Harlem Renaissance from the Poetry Foundation.
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"What Is the Blues?" — A brief history of the blues from PBS.
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200 Years of Afro-American Poetry — An article by Hughes from the 1960s, in which he lays out his understanding of the history of African American poetry.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Langston Hughes
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