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Overview
Langston Hughes’s “The Weary Blues” is a landmark poem of the Harlem Renaissance
. The poem centers on a Black speaker who recalls the transformative experience he had while listening to a blues musician at a local jazz club. What made this poem so groundbreaking when it first appeared in 1925 was the way it affirmed the value of Black cultural production for the purposes of Black empowerment and advancement. The Harlem Renaissance was all about generating renewed sense of self, purpose, and pride for Black communities, and “The Weary Blues” gave powerful expression to those values.Read a summary & analysis, an analysis of the speaker, and explanations of important quotes from “The Weary Blues.”
