The Weary Blues
Written by Langston Hughes
Narrated by Rhett Samuel Price
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
Langston Hughes is a widely celebrated African American writer and important leader of the 1920s Harlem Renaissance. Deeply inspired by the great poet Walt Whitman, Hughes’ own writings gave voice to the Black community in the American literary canon. His assertion that “I, too, sing America” echoes through history and continues to be a battle cry in the fight for fair representation and equality.
The Weary Blues, published in 1926, was Hughes’ first collection of poetry. He was only twenty-four years old at the time, but his insights carry wisdom beyond his years. Hughes made his literary debut at the height of Jim Crow when racial segregation ran deep through American society. Through the pain and hardship, there is also an unshakable pride in his African American heritage.
Enjoy the rich notes and rhythms of Hughes’ distinct “jazz poetry” style, brought to life in this extraordinary InAudio production.
Langston Hughes
Best known for his vivid and astute portrayals of Black life across the written page, Langston Hughes—born James Mercer Langston Hughes—(1901—1967) was a poet, playwright, writer and key figure of the Harlem Renaissance who founded jazz poetry. Raised mostly by his grandmother, Hughes was instilled with a lasting sense of racial pride and a love of books from a young age and though not supported by his father in his pursuit of writing, Hughes would attend Columbia with his father’s aid in 1921, before leaving the very next year due to racial prejudice and a desire to focus on his poetry. Hughes first introduced his voice to the world in a 1921 issue of The Crisis where he published, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.” The poem would come to be known as his signature piece and five years later was included in his debut poetry collection, The Weary Blues. Establishing himself as a key player of the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes would be one of a small group of Black intellectuals and artists of the movement who called themselves the Niggerati. Going on to write their manifesto, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” Hughes’ use of the literary medium differed heavily from the artistic aspirations of the Black middle class in that he desired to focus on highlighting the lives of working-class Black people and addressing divisions and prejudices that existed within the Black community itself. In a career spanning over four decades, Hughes would publish an award-winning novel (Not Without Laughter), multiple plays—some in collaboration with Zora Neale Hurston—(Mule Bone and Black Nativity), children’s literature (Popo and Fifina) and even an autobiography (The Big Sea); among others in a large volume of work. In his personal life, Hughes maintained lifetime friendships with members of the movement and also is believed to have had private romantic and sexual relationships with men. While Hughes’ emphasis on racial pride had begun to fall out of favor with new and coming movements of the younger generation, his contributions to the African-American literary canon and American literature at all could not be denied and as such at the time of his death was—and continues to be—one of the most talented and respected voices of a generation.
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Reviews for The Weary Blues
10 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent. You can feel the struggle and laments in this book. I enjoyed this book of his poetry very much