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Langston HughesA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The theme of race appears in the poem's title since “The Weary Blues” ties the poem to blues. Rooted in the Black experience, the blues is inseparable from racism, slavery, and the songs enslaved Black people sang—spirituals, field hollers, work songs, and country string ballads. The blues generally reflects the suffering and determination of Black people, and Black blues musicians like Bessie Smith, W. C. Handy, and Ma Rainey popularized the genre. Thus, before even reading the poem, Hughes brings up the theme of race by placing the word “blues” in the title.
In Line 2, the speaker touches on race with the word “croon,” which sounds like “coon”—a racial slur white people could have called the blues singer in the South, New York, or anywhere in the country. The speaker then makes the singer's race clear when they announce, “I heard a Negro play” (Line 3). The word “negro” is not an outright racial slur in the poem. In the 1920s, it was another term for Black people. Now, the word is much more fraught. However, in "The Weary Blues," the word confirms that a Black man is playing the blues.
In Line 5, the speaker introduces whiteness with “the pale dull pallor of an old gas light.
By Langston Hughes
Children’s Rhymes
Children’s Rhymes
Langston Hughes
Cora Unashamed
Cora Unashamed
Langston Hughes
Dreams
Dreams
Langston Hughes
Harlem
Harlem
Langston Hughes
I look at the world
I look at the world
Langston Hughes
I, Too
I, Too
Langston Hughes
Let America Be America Again
Let America Be America Again
Langston Hughes
Me and the Mule
Me and the Mule
Langston Hughes
Mother to Son
Mother to Son
Langston Hughes
Mulatto
Mulatto
Langston Hughes
Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life
Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life
Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston
Not Without Laughter
Not Without Laughter
Langston Hughes
Slave on the Block
Slave on the Block
Langston Hughes
Thank You, M'am
Thank You, M'am
Langston Hughes
The Big Sea
The Big Sea
Langston Hughes
Theme for English B
Theme for English B
Langston Hughes
The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain
The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain
Langston Hughes
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Langston Hughes
The Ways of White Folks
The Ways of White Folks
Langston Hughes
Tired
Tired
Langston Hughes