Description
Book SynopsisA celebration of music from beginning to end, The Weary Blues is the debut poetry collection by the foremost Harlem Renaissance poet, 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. . . With these first lines, Hughes invites the reader into an experimental playground that tells the story of a Black man's life in America. Featuring poems such as, "Dream Variations," "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," and "Our Land," Hughes weaves in and out of verse, highlighting the lows of struggle in the face of segregation and racism, but also the highs of creation from the time when, "the Negroes were in vogue." Now considered to be an American classic, The Weary Blues embodies the feel of the rhythm, improvisation, and soul of Black classical music, pioneered the genre of "jazz poetry," and left an irreplaceable mark in the African-American literary canon. Professionally typeset with a beautifully designed cover, this edition of The Weary Blues is a sensational reimagining of a Harlem Renaissance staple for the modern reader.
Table of ContentsIntroducing Langston Hughes to the Reader Proem The Weary Blues The Weary Blues Jazzonia Negro Dancers The Cat and the Saxophone Young Singer Cabaret To Midnight Nan at Leroy’s To a Little Lover-Lass, Dead Harlem Night Club Nude Young Dancer Young Prostitute To a Black Dancer Song for a Banjo Dance Blues Fantasy Lenox Avenue: Midnight Dream Variations Dream Variation Winter Moon Poème d’Automne Fantasy in Purple March Moon The Negro Speaks of Rivers The Negro Speaks of Rivers Cross The Jester The South As I Grew Older Aunt Sue’s Stories Poem Black Pierrot A Black Pierrot Harlem Night Song Songs to the Dark Virgin Ardella Poem—To the Black Beloved When Sue Wears Red Pierrot Water-Front Streets Water-Front Streets A Farewell Long Trip Port Town Sea Calm Caribbean Sunset Young Sailor Seascape Natcha Sea Charm Death of an Old Seaman Shadows in the Sun Beggar Boy Troubled Woman Suicide’s Note Sick Room Soledad To the Dark Mercedes Mexican Market Woman After Many Springs Young Bride The Dream Keeper Poem (To F.S.) Our Land Our Land Lament for Dark Peoples Afraid Poem—For the Portrait of an African Boy Summer Night Disillusion Danse Africaine The White Ones Mother to Son Poem Epilogue
