20 pages • 40-minute read
The Weary Blues
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Literary Devices
Form and Meter
Langston Hughes’ “The Weary Blues” is in the form of a free-verse poem. As the term implies, Hughes is free to make the lines as long or as short as he wants and to include as many or as few beats as he pleases. The free verse allows Hughes to capture the musician's “syncopated tune” (Line 1). The uneven line lengths represent the displaced beats and the improvisational rhythm of blues and jazz music.
Yet the poem isn’t as free as it might look. There is something of a predictable rhyme scheme as the longer lines tend to rhyme, and the shorter interjections don’t rhyme. For example, Lines 1 and 2 rhyme. The interjection—“I heard a Negro play” (Line 3)— doesn’t rhyme. Yet the next two longer lines (Lines 4 and 5) do rhyme. There are also rhymes within lines, with “ebony” and “ivory” rhyming in Line 9, and “chords” plus “more” rhyming in Line 24. The rhymes don’t establish a traditional meter—iambic pentameter, for example. However, the diverse rhymes link to the free-flowing meter in blues songs and jazz music due to the stress on assonance or vowel sounds.
Of course, the blues song within the poem has its separate form and meter. Unlike the poem, the lines in the song aren’t so uneven. Also, the rhyme scheme in the lyrics is arguably more apparent since every other line rhymes if one counts “satisfied” (Lines 26 and 28) as a rhyme.
Repetition
Repetition is a literary device where a poet repeats words to create a melody or double down on a theme or idea. In “The Weary Blues,” repetition connects the poem to the blues form, as blues singers often repeat phrases. Thus, in the poem—like a true blues musician—the man repeats “Ain’t got nobody” (Lines 19 and 20), “Got the Weary Blues” (Lines 25 and 27), and “can’t be satisfied” (Lines 26 and 28). Indeed, the repetition produces a stable rhythm and emphasizes themes of alienation, unfulfillment, and weariness.
Yet the speaker themself seems to be making a blues song, since the poem, separate from the blues lyrics, contains a lot of repetition. The speaker repeats “lazy sway” in Lines 6 and 7, “moan” in Lines 10 and 18, a similar exclamation about the blues in Lines 11, 14, and 16, and “thump” three times in Line 23. As with the singer’s repetition for their blues song, the speaker’s repetition for their poem builds a solid melody. Additionally, the repetition continually draws attention to the themes of music, suffering, and raggedness.
Atmosphere
Atmosphere is a literary device that the poet uses to bring the reader into the poem's environment. The poet employs atmosphere to convey the mood and feeling of the poem. In “The Weary Blues,” Langston Hughes uses atmosphere to communicate the threadbare venue. The reader won’t confuse the place with the ritzy, segregated 1920s Harlem nightclub, the Cotton Club. The place where the speaker finds themself is neither glamorous nor fancy. The speaker creates the space's frayed environment by describing the lighting and objects. The “pale dull pallor of an old gas light” (Line 5) indicates the place is getting on in years and somewhat rundown. The “poor piano” (Line 10) and “rickety stool” (Line 12) further the threadbare environment.
At the same time, the song of the blues musician makes for a charged atmosphere. Indeed, the speaker creates a soulful, powerful environment that contrasts with the battered lighting and objects. The exclamations—“O Blues!” (Lines 11 and 16) and “Sweet Blues!”—let the reader know that, yes, the material surroundings are frayed, but that doesn’t mean that the tune is fainthearted. As the “Thump, thump, thump” (Line 23) implies, the blues musician brings life to the atmosphere and makes it forceful.
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