The+Weary+Blues

Tyler Martin 3rd Period

**__The Weary Blues __**

1. Droning a drowsy syncopated tune, 2. Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon, 3. I heard a Negro play. 4. Down on Lenox Avenue the other night 5. By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light 6. He did a lazy sway. . . . <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">7. He did a lazy sway. . . . <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">8. To the tune o' those Weary Blues. <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">9. With his ebony hands on each ivory key <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">10. He made that poor piano moan with melody. <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">11. Blues! <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">12. Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">13. He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool. <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">14. Sweet Blues! <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">15. Coming from a black man's soul. <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">16. Blues! <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">17. In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">18. I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan— <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">19. "Ain't got nobody in all this world, <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">20. Ain't got nobody but ma self.  <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">21. I's gwine to quit ma frownin'  <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">22. And put ma troubles on the shelf." <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">23. Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor. <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">24. He played a few chords then he sang some more— <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">25. "I got the Weary Blues <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">26. And I can't be satisfied.  <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">27. Got the Weary Blues  <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">28. And can't be satisfied—  <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">29. I ain't happy no mo' <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">30. And I wish that I had died." <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">31. And far into the night he crooned that tune.  <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">32. The stars went out and so did the moon.  <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">33. The singer stopped playing and went to bed  <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">34. While the Weary Blues echoed through his head. <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt;">35. He slept like a rock or a man that's dead.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1.5in; text-indent: -1.5in;">i. It is used to personify the blues into something that the reader can “see”, but the idea of blues is most effectively conveyed through audio however “seeing” the blues is still better that having somebody simply tell you about it. The imagery is present to allow us to “see” the piano player in the club and experience the blues for ourselves. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1.5in; text-indent: -1.5in;">ii. The imagery starts with the player “droning a drowsy syncopated tune” in the first line. He is “rocking back and forth” (line 2) and is it easy to imagine a man sitting at a piano rocking to the tune of the music. The club is lit by a pale “old gas lamp” (line 3) and the scene is washed in an eerie light that adds to the blues atmosphere. The ebony hands are contrasted with the ivory keys (line 9). The piano is said to “moan with melody” (line 10), as the power of the blues is so great that it causes the piano to sound like a moan. His “rickety stool” (line 12) is old and tired, like the man who sings about his sad life. The song is very moving to the speaker, and it seems that the “stars went out and so did the moon” (line 32) because of the player’s song. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1.5in; text-indent: -1.5in;">i. The sound of the blues is conveyed through the imagery and language <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1.5in; text-indent: -1.5in;">ii. The long sounding words low down the tempo of the poem when spoken aloud and it is read in a bluesy tone. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1.5in; text-indent: -1.5in;">iii. The words chosen that causes these bluesy feelings are: droning, drowsy, mellow, croon, sway, moan, raggy, and melancholy. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1.5in; text-indent: -1.5in;">iv. It sounds like it is meant to be read, it is a blues poem spoken with a melancholy rhythm. The sad sound of the words and lyrics convey the sad feeling of the black man’s soul. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1.5in; text-indent: -1.5in;">i. The entire poem is written in colloquial terms and the diction is not elevated by any means <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1.5in; text-indent: -1.5in;">ii. Many of the speaker’s words are negative and gloomy to support the feelings of blues <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1.5in; text-indent: -1.5in;">iii. While the blues player is singing, it is written as is would sound. It is not simplified or sugar coated, but written as the raw blues lyrics that one would hear in a 1920’s blues club. There are words misspelled and the vernacular is of African American culture in the following lyrics: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; text-indent: -0.25in;">1. "Ain't got nobody in all this world, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; text-indent: -0.25in;">Ain't got nobody but ma self. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; text-indent: -0.25in;">I's gwine to quit ma frownin' <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; text-indent: -0.25in;">And put ma troubles on the shelf." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; text-indent: -0.25in;">2. "I got the Weary Blues <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; text-indent: -0.25in;">And I can't be satisfied. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; text-indent: -0.25in;">Got the Weary Blues <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; text-indent: -0.25in;">And can't be satisfied-- <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; text-indent: -0.25in;">I ain't happy no mo' <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; text-indent: -0.25in;">And I wish that I had died." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1.5in; text-indent: -1.5in;">i. The theme is definitely based in blues music <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1.5in; text-indent: -1.5in;">ii. It deals with music in and about people’s lives and how it can be used to either express or influence people <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1.5in; text-indent: -1.5in;">iii. The subject of the song within the poem is about weariness and being tired of the things in life such as isolation, anger, sadness, and depression.
 * 1) <span style="0in: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Context
 * 2) <span style="0in: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">It was written by Langston Hughes, 1925, in //Opportunity// magazine
 * 3) <span style="0in: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Hughes was influenced by the blues and African American culture during the 1920’s
 * 4) <span style="0in: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Subject
 * 5) <span style="0in: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">It is written in response to hearing a blues singer, the speaker remembers his swaying and playing in a bar or club on Lennox Avenue in Harlem
 * 6) <span style="0in: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The speaker is listening to the blues as a new audience, he is unfamiliar with the genre
 * 7) <span style="0in: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The blues give him a certain feel that is moving and powerful
 * 8) <span style="0in: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">It gives the blues genre a more tangible feel, by personifying it through the motions and sounds of the music
 * 9) <span style="0in: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The blues are reflective of the man’s life and how he shares his music and experiences, it is something new to the speaker and it really opens his eyes to the black man’s world
 * 10) <span style="0in: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Structure
 * 11) <span style="0in: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">It is a lyrical elegy, and it has a blues rhythm to mimic the sound of the piano player. The blues singer has soul and emotion when he sings about how his life is sad
 * 12) <span style="0in: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">It is in a free verse with some scattered rhyming in 2 large, irregular stanzas
 * 13) <span style="0in: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Through the first stanza the speaker hears the first verse of the song and is moved by the song. The blues song continues in the second stanza and ends with a summary of the speakers night after hearing the blues for the first time.
 * 14) <span style="0in: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Literary Devices
 * 15) <span style="0in: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Imagery
 * 1) <span style="0in: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Sound
 * 1) <span style="0in: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Language
 * 1) <span style="0in: 0in; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Theme