The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes

The Weary Blues

Langston Hughes

Dover Publications · Paperback · January 24, 2022

Buy on Amazon

We earn from qualifying purchases.

Who it’s for
Hughes moves from blues-echoing rhythms to joy and a resonant voice of Black experience.
Themes
Black experience, Blues music
Genres
African American Poetry, American Poetry, African American Studies

About this book

The Weary Blues is Langston Hughes's first published collection of poems, immediately celebrated as a tour de force upon its release. Over ninety years after its publication, it remains a critically acclaimed literary work and still evokes a fresh, contemporary feeling and offers a powerful reflection of the Black experience.

Continue reading

From the title poem "The Weary Blues," echoing the sounds of the blues, to "Dream Variation," ringing with joyfulness, to the "Epilogue" that mimics Walt Whitman in its opening line, "I, too, sing America," Hughes writes clearly and colorfully, and his words remain prophetic and relevant today.

Poetry in Many Registers

Hughes moves from blues-echoing rhythms to joy and a resonant voice of Black experience.

Come here for

  • The music of blues-shaped poems
  • A lively conversation with American poetic traditions

Expect

  • Clear, colorful language with lasting resonance
  • Contrasts of weariness, joy, and affirmation

Where it sits

African American Poetry100%
American Poetry79%
African American Studies33%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • African American Poetry
Authors
Langston Hughes
Publisher
Dover Publications
Published
January 24, 2022
Format
Paperback
Theme
Black experience · Blues music
Reading lane
African American Poetry