The Weary Blues

Poetry | Langston Hughes

Sketch the character of the singer depicted in the poem “The Weary Blues.”

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Sketch the character of the singer depicted in the poem The Weary Blues Langston Hughes s - poem The Weary Blues paints a strong picture of a lonely Black singer in Harlem The poem is not only about his music but also about his tiredness and pain This black singer represents the African-American community Through the singer s actions voice and sad song we see a tired man who carries the sorrow of the African-American community nbsp A Lonely Figure on Lenox Avenue The singer first appears on Lenox Avenue at night He plays his piano under an old weak gas light The place is quiet and empty The poet sees him bending over his piano and swaying slowly His body language shows tiredness Hughes writes nbsp He did a lazy sway nbsp This line tells us that he is not full of energy It feels like the night and

the dim light match his lonely mood His loneliness is soft slow and almost sleepy like the atmosphere around him nbsp A Man Full of Deep Sadness The black singer is full of deep sadness His music is filled with emotion The poet says the piano moaned with melody It means the sound is full of sorrow The singer is not just performing a song He is expressing something from his heart The rhythm is slow and heavy like someone carrying emotional pain for a long time nbsp His sadness is also noticeable in his voice Hughes describes it as a deep song voice with a melancholy tone These words mean the singer is very sad His sadness is connected to the history of African-American suffering It is not just personal sadness it also carries the weight of a whole community nbsp Honest About His Pain One of the strongest qualities of the singer is honesty He speaks openly about his pain He sings nbsp Ain t got nobody in all this world nbsp Here the singer is telling the truth about his deep loneliness He says he has no one only himself This shows how the African-American feels in American society nbsp His honesty continues when he says he is not satisfied with life He admits he is not happy anymore At one point he even sings that he wishes he had died These are very painful feelings nbsp An Artist Who Turns Suffering into Music Another important part of the singer s character is his relationship with music He turns his sadness into art He sings nbsp I ain t happy no mo And I wish that I had died nbsp Through these lines we see a man who has lost hope but still tries to release his pain through music Even though he is tired he keeps singing far into the night His foot beats the floor his hands press the piano keys and his voice fills the dark street Music becomes his way of surviving nbsp Blues is a form of music born from Black suffering and endurance The singer represents this tradition His song becomes the voice of African-Americans who are tired lonely and struggling nbsp A Man Crushed by Life At the end of the poem the singer goes to bed He sleeps like a rock or a man who is dead nbsp He slept like a rock or a man that s dead nbsp This shows how exhausted he is His body is tired his mind is tired and even in sleep the sad music still echoes in his head The final image shows a man crushed by life but still strong enough to sing his truth before resting In conclusion the singer in The Weary Blues is a lonely and deeply emotional man He carries the sorrow of the African-American community His music becomes his voice His character stands as a symbol of the tired but brave spirit of African-American life

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Langston Hughes
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