The Weary Blues Literary Devices

"The Weary Blues" is poem with two voices. The main voice narrates a story of an African American man who sings and plays the blues at an old Harlem bar on Lenox Avenue. Both the narrator and the musician have a gloomy tone, just as the title of the poem indicates, the musician is “weary” which indicates the setting of the poem; night time. Throughout the poem, Hughes uses several literary devices to guide us through the mixed emotions of the singer. There is a strong use of imagery words such as “drowsy”, “mellow”, “melancholy”, and “dull” again suggest that the narrator is surrounded by a dark and calm atmosphere. There seems to be a repetition of “O’ which is an example of assonance. Also the line “He did a lazy sway…” (6-7), was repeated twice. This adds the feeling of darkness and sorrow which shows the reader in the beginning of the poem what to expect from the man who is singing the Blues as well as it enhances the gloomy theme of the poem.

This shows that the pain of the musician is so strong, that not only is it experienced by the speaker, but also by an inanimate object, the piano. This is an example of personification, a feeling of such extent that is depicted metaphorically to be felt by an inanimate object. Another example of personification would be “slept like a rock” (35). The rock being lifeless is a simile that clearly shows just how drowsy the musician is which ties to the beginning of the poem where the narrator describes the musician “Droning a drowsy syncopated tune”