The Weary Blues

“Sweet Blues! / Coming from a Black man’s soul. / Oh Blues! / In a deep song voice and melancholy tone.” Featuring over five dozen poems that meld lyric to narrative, The Weary Blues is the award-winning introduction to jazz poetry and one of the leading voices of the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes.

Sommario

Introducing Langston Hughes to the Reader

Proem

The Weary Blues

The Weary Blues

Jazzonia

Negro Dancers

The Cat and the Saxophone

Young Singer

Cabaret

To Midnight Nan at Leroy’s

To a Little Lover-Lass, Dead

Harlem Night Club

Nude Young Dancer

Young Prostitute

To a Black Dancer

Song for a Banjo Dance

Blues Fantasy

Lenox Avenue: Midnight

Dream Variations

Dream Variation

Winter Moon

Poème d’Automne

Fantasy in Purple

March Moon

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

Cross

The Jester

The South

As I Grew Older

Aunt Sue’s Stories

Poem

Black Pierrot

A Black Pierrot

Harlem Night Song

Songs to the Dark Virgin

Ardella

Poem—To the Black Beloved

When Sue Wears Red

Pierrot

Water-Front Streets

Water-Front Streets

A Farewell

Long Trip

Port Town

Sea Calm

Caribbean Sunset

Young Sailor

Seascape

Natcha

Sea Charm

Death of an Old Seaman

Shadows in the Sun

Beggar Boy

Troubled Woman

Suicide’s Note

Sick Room

Soledad

To the Dark Mercedes

Mexican Market Woman

After Many Springs

Young Bride

The Dream Keeper

Poem (To F.S.)

Our Land

Our Land

Lament for Dark Peoples

Afraid

Poem—For the Portrait of an African Boy

Summer Night

Disillusion

Danse Africaine

The White Ones

Mother to Son

Poem

Epilogue

Info autore

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.
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.

Riassunto

A celebration of music from beginning to end, The Weary Blues is the debut poetry collection by the foremost Harlem Renaissance poet, Langston Hughes.
Droning a drowsy syncopated tune, / Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon, / I heard a Negro play. / Down on Lenox Avenue the other night / By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light / He did a lazy sway. . .
With these first lines, Hughes invites the reader into an experimental playground that tells the story of a Black man's life in America. Featuring poems such as, "Dream Variations," "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," and "Our Land," Hughes weaves in and out of verse, highlighting the lows of struggle in the face of segregation and racism, but also the highs of creation from the time when, "the Negroes were in vogue."
Now considered to be an American classic, The Weary Blues embodies the feel of the rhythm, improvisation, and soul of Black classical music, pioneered the genre of "jazz poetry," and left an irreplaceable mark in the African-American literary canon.Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book. With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

Prefazione

ONLINE: will feature of Mint Editions social media pages and blog in the month of August, as well as during February (Black History Month), April (Poetry Month), and June (Pride Month)
PROMOTION: outreach to diverse/Black bookstagrammers

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: Langston Hughes
• Editore: Ingram Publishers Services
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Tascabile
• Pubblicazione: 16.08.2022
• EAN: 9781513203607
• ISBN: 978-1-5132-0360-7
• Pagine: 100
• Illustrazioni: Illustrationen, nicht spezifiziert
• Serie: Mint Editions—Black Narratives; Mint Editions (Black Narratives); Black Narratives
• Categorie: Narrativa > Poesia lirica, drammatica; POETRY / Subjects & Themes / Places, Poetry by individual poets, POETRY / LGBTQ+, Poetry / poems by individual poets