The Blues: A Door for African Americans’ Identity
Langston Hughes’ “The Weary Blues” is a well-formed poem, which reflects the painful history yet rich culture of African American people during the Harlem Renaissance. The message of the poem can be seen in the last line when the speaker says, “he slept like a rock or a man that’s dead.” (35). This implies that the musician in the poem is so passionate towards his music that only his music labels him. What I mean is if the musician stops playing his music, he loses his identity. A facet of the Harlem Renaissance is the attempt by African Americans to identify what it meant to be an American of African descent. This means pointing out cultural traditions like the blues, but it also meant creating …show more content…
CooperPiano, an expert online source of piano information states, “the story of the Piano begins in Florence, Italy”. When the speaker describes the musician, “with his ebony hands on each ivory key”, this means that ivory further represent the original users of the piano, the Whites from Italy. Therefore, the musician in the poem was able to transform this Western piece into something of his own, which was the use of piano to play the blues. To strengthen this claim, the speaker uses the figurative language, apostrophe when he says “Sweet Blues! / Coming from a black man’s soul” (14-15). This statement might suggest that the blues are more authentic and pleasant when it comes from an African American. After all, it originated from them. Also, another example of how African Americans showcase this innate gift is when they alter the formal American language that further enables them to have their own dialect. This is seen in the poem when the musician sang the part that states, “I’ts gwine to quit ma frownin’/And put ma troubles on the shelf.” (21-22). This shows that certain flaws such as accents are beautiful and can greatly contribute to the distinction and identity of a
Langston Hughes’ “The Weary Blues” is a well-formed poem, which reflects the painful history yet rich culture of African American people during the Harlem Renaissance. The message of the poem can be seen in the last line when the speaker says, “he slept like a rock or a man that’s dead.” (35). This implies that the musician in the poem is so passionate towards his music that only his music labels him. What I mean is if the musician stops playing his music, he loses his identity. A facet of the Harlem Renaissance is the attempt by African Americans to identify what it meant to be an American of African descent. This means pointing out cultural traditions like the blues, but it also meant creating …show more content…
CooperPiano, an expert online source of piano information states, “the story of the Piano begins in Florence, Italy”. When the speaker describes the musician, “with his ebony hands on each ivory key”, this means that ivory further represent the original users of the piano, the Whites from Italy. Therefore, the musician in the poem was able to transform this Western piece into something of his own, which was the use of piano to play the blues. To strengthen this claim, the speaker uses the figurative language, apostrophe when he says “Sweet Blues! / Coming from a black man’s soul” (14-15). This statement might suggest that the blues are more authentic and pleasant when it comes from an African American. After all, it originated from them. Also, another example of how African Americans showcase this innate gift is when they alter the formal American language that further enables them to have their own dialect. This is seen in the poem when the musician sang the part that states, “I’ts gwine to quit ma frownin’/And put ma troubles on the shelf.” (21-22). This shows that certain flaws such as accents are beautiful and can greatly contribute to the distinction and identity of a