Research Paper on:
'Weary Blues' by Langston Hughes

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
well as other writers of the Harlem Renaissance, attempted to convey an understanding of blues values through their verse to the wider modern world (Tolston 42). The term "Harlem Renaissance"  refers to period of African American artistic creativity that occurred in the Harlem section of New York City in the 1920s and 30s. Hughes was the movements most preeminent poet,  but the movement also featured blues artists such as Louie Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Hughes, perhaps more than other African American writers, actually imitated the form of the  blues, "creating stanzas of the aab rhyme scheme expressing lost love, the troubles of the world and many other themes that are inherent to traditional, historical blues" (Harris 67).  While Hughes is associated by many with the work of Duke Ellington, in the 1920s,, Banes asserts that Hughes was particularly inspired by female blues artists such as Ma Rainey  and Bessie Smith (60). An examination of Hughes poem "Weary Blues" demonstrates his imitation of the blues style and thematic content. The tone of the poem is  established quickly in the short first stanza. "Droning a drowsy syncopated tune/ Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,/ I heard a Negro play" (lines 1-3). In these lines,  Hughes indicates the basic characteristics of the music that a black man plays at a piano. The alliteration between "droning" and "drowsy" serves to emphasize the meaning of those  words. A "syncopated tune" has a very definitive rhythm, a factor that is emphasized by the regular meter of the lines. This characteristic of the music is also substantiated  by the second line that describes "rocking back and forth" to the "mellow croon." As this indicates, the blues is generally a study in contrasts. In this case, the