Langston Hughes: life, work, and literary legacy

Langston Hughes

To say that Langston Hughes was a poet of the Harlem Renaissance would be to do the man a disservice. He was much more than just a poet, and his work and influence extended well beyond the Harlem Renaissance. Langston Hughes' use of musical themes in his poems was revolutionary and has led to him being considered one of the great poets of the 20th century.

James Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri on February 1, 1902 to a schoolteacher more and a storekeeper father. After his parents separated, Hughes spent short periods of time in several locations including Kansas, Colorado, Indiana, Buffalo, Ohio, and Mexico (Liukkonen, 2008). All of this moving around may have been the cause of Hughes' free spirit, which he demonstrated as a young adult by dropping out of New York's Columbia University in favor of activities that were more interested to him, such as spending time in jazz and blues clubs, and traveling the world (Academy of American Poets, 2010a). It was not long before he found a way to infuse elements of the music he loved into the poems he was writing.

One such musical poem is "The Weary Blues." Published early in his career in 1923, "The Weary Blues" contains some very clear elements of a musical influence. The poem follows the pattern of a blues song, and in reading it, one can almost hear the tune that accompanies it. The elements of a blues song that stand out are repetition and focus on a sad or depressing theme (Academy of American Poets, 2010b). "The Weary Blues" includes both of these elements. It begins by giving the reader the feeling of lethargy, as though things are moving slowly, sadly: "Droning a drowsy syncopated tune, / Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon, / I heard a Negro play" (Hughes, 1923). The words droning, drowsy, mellow, and croon all allude to a slow, sad room.

He continues with the inclusion of things that imply sadness like a blues song in the next lines with words like 'pale' and 'dull,' then he gets to the repetition: "He did a lazy sway… / He did a lazy sway… / To the tune o' those Weary Blues" (Hughes, 1923). By including these lines, Hughes is using musical allusions to express the meaning of his poem.

The musical allusions become even stronger a little later in the poem. At first, Hughes simply describes what he sees the musician doing, but in the second half of the poem he mimics it, which makes it even clearer for the reader of the poem. He says:

I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan

"Ain't got nobody in all this world,

Ain't got nobody but ma self.

I's gwine to quit ma frownin'

And put ma troubles on the shelf." (Hughes, 1923)

The inclusion of the actual lyrics of the song he was hearing is the strongest yet of the musical allusions Hughes uses, and it serves to bring the audience into the room with him. Instead of simply imagining Hughes sitting in the room with the musician, now the reader can see himself in that room; he can hear the music for himself; he can almost feel the pulse of the pianist stomping his foot on the floor. In the poem "The Weary Blues," Langston Hughes expertly uses musical allusions to bring the reader into his world.

The inclusion of musical allusions remained a theme in Langston Hughes' work throughout his life and career. Later in his life, in Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951), he published a poem called "Dream Boogie." This is a poem that also uses musical allusions. "The Weary Blues" uses the blues to drive it; "Dream Boogie" uses jazz.

The part of jazz that stands out is the aspect that is off-melody, the part that is off-rhythm. While most musical forms find value in the musician's ability to follow the melody that is set, jazz is valuable based on the degree to which the musician can improvise outside of the melody that is set. This is what Hughes uses to create musical allusions in "Dream Boogie."

After opening the poem with a metaphorical announcement of the music of a dream deferred, Hughes pens these very jazz-influenced lines:

Listen closely:

You'll hear their feet

Beating out and Beating out a You think