With the publication of his first book of poems, **The Weary Blues**, in 1926, Langston Hughes electrified readers and launched a renaissance in black writing in America. The poems Hughes wrote celebrated the experience of invisible men and women: of slaves who "rushed the boots of Washington"; of musicians on Lenox Avenue; of the poor and the lovesick; of losers in "the raffle of night." They conveyed that experience in a voice that blended the spoken with the sung, that turned poetic lines into the phrases of jazz and blues, and that ripped through the curtain separating high from popular culture. They spanned the range from the lyric to the polemic, ringing out "wonder and pain and terror-- and the marrow of the bone of life."
The poems in this collection were chosen by Hughes himself shortly before his death in 1967 and represent work from his entire career, including "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," "The Weary Blues," "Still Here," "Song for a Dark Girl," "Montage of a Dream Deferred," and "Refugee in America." It gives us a poet of extraordinary range, directness, and stylistic virtuosity.
### Review
125th Street 50-50 Advice Africa Afro-american Fragment American Heartbreak Angels Wings Ardella Argument As Befits A Man As I Grew Older Aunt Sue's Stories Bad Luck Card Bad Morning Ballad Of A Man Who's Gone Ballad Of The Fortune Teller Ballad Of The Girl Whose Name Is Mud Ballad Of The Gypsy Ballad Of The Landlord Bar Be-bop Boys Beale Street Black Maria A Black Pierrot Blue Bayou Blue Monday Blues At Dawn Boogie: 1 A.m. Border Line Bound No'th Blues Brothers Buddy Cafe: 3 A.m. Casualty Catch Children's Rhymes (1) Chord College Formal: Renaissance Casino Comment On Curb Consider Me Cora Corner Meeting Could Be Croon Cross Crossing Dancer Danse Africaine Daybreak In Alabama Dead In There Deferred Delinquent Demand Democracy Desert Desire Dime Dive Down And Out Dream Dream Boogie Dream Boogie: Variation Dream Dust Dream Variations [or, Variation] Drum Drunkard Early Evening Quarrel Easy Boogie Elevator Boy End Ennui Evening Song Evil Fact Fantasy In Purple Feet O' Jesus Final Curve Fire Fired Flatted Fifths Freedom Train Freedom's Plow Fulfilment Garden Gauge Genius Child Georgia Dusk Gone Boy Good Morning Graduation Green Memory Gypsy Melodies Hard Daddy Harlem Harlem Night Song Havana Dreams Heaven High To Low Homecoming Hope Hope A House In Taos I, Too In Explanation Of Our Times In Time Of Silver Rain Interne At Provident Island (1) Island (2) Jam Session Joe Louis Joy Judgment Day Juke Box Love Song Juliet Kid In The Park Kid Sleepy Ku Klux Lady's Boogie Late Last Night Letter Life Is Fine Likewise Litany Little Green Tree Little Lyric (of Great Importance) Live And Let Live Long Trip Love Lover's Return Low To High Luck Lunch In A Jim Crow Car Madam And Her Madam Madam And Her Might-have-been Madam And The Census Man Madam And The Charity Child Madam And The Fortune Teller Madam And The Minister Madam And The Number Writer Madam And The Phone Bill Madam And The Rent Man Madam And The Wrong Visitor Madam's Calling Cards Madam's Past History Magnolia Flowers Mama And Daughter March Moon Maybe Me And The Mule Mellow Merry-go-round Mexican Market Woman Midnight Dancer: To A Balck Dancer In The Little Savoy Midnight Raffle Midwinter Blues Migrant Misery Miss Blues'es Child Monroe's Blues Moonlight Night: Carmel Morning After Mother To Son Motto Movies Mulatto My People Mystery Natcha Necessity Negro The Negro Mother The Negro Speaks Of Rivers Neighbor Neon Signs New Yorkers Night Funeral In Harlem Night: Four Songs Nightmare Boogie No Regrets Not A Movie Note On Commercial Theatre Numbers October 16: The Raid Old Walt One One-way Ticket Parade Passing Personal Port Town Porter Prayer Prayer Meeting Preference Projection Puzzled Question (2) Railroad Avenue Refugee In America Relief Request Reverie On The Harlem River Roland Hayes Beaten (georgia: 1942) Ruby Brown S-sss-ss-sh Same In Blues Sea Calm Seascape Shame On You Share-croppers Shout Sinner Sister Situation Sliver Sliver Of Sermon Snail So Long Song For A Dark Girl Song For Billie Holiday The South Southern Mammy Sings Spirituals Stars Still Here Stony Lonesome Strange Hurt [she Knows] Street Song Subway Rush Hour Suicide's Note Summer Evening Sun Song Sunday By The Combination Sunday Morning Prophecy Sylvester's Dying Bed Tag Tambourines Tell Me Testimonial Theme For English B Third Degree Three Songs About Lynching: Silhouette To Artina To Be Somebody Tomorrow Troubled Woman Trumpet Player Ultimatum Uncle Tom Up-beat Vagabonds Wake Warning Warning: Augmented Water-front Streets The Weary Blues West Texas What? What? So Soon! When Sue Wears Red Who But The Lord? Widow Woman Wine-o Winter Moon Wonder World War Ii Young Gal's Blues Young Sailor -- *Table of Poems from Poem Finder®*
### From the Inside Flap
With the publication of his first book of poems, **The Weary Blues**, in 1926, Langston Hughes electrified readers and launched a renaissance in black writing in America. The poems Hughes wrote celebrated the experience of invisible men and women: of slaves who "rushed the boots of Washington"; of musicians on Lenox Avenue; of the poor and the lovesick; of losers in "the raffle of night." They conveyed that experience in a voice that blended the spoken with the sung, that turned poetic lines into the phrases of jazz and blues, and that ripped through the curtain separating high from popular culture. They spanned the range from the lyric to the polemic, ringing out "wonder and pain and terror-- and the marrow of the bone of life."
The poems in this collection were chosen by Hughes himself shortly before his death in 1967 and represent work from his entire career, including "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," "The Weary Blues," "Still Here," "Song for a Dark Girl," "Montage of a Dream Deferred," and "Refugee in America." It gives us a poet of extraordinary range, directness, and stylistic virtuosity.

2024-09-11