The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

Today's Featured Book: 

The Weary Blues

by Langston Hughes

Genre: Poetry

Published: 1926

Page Count: 98 pages

Summary: 

The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes is a landmark collection of poetry and one of the defining works of the Harlem Renaissance. First published in 1926, this volume introduced Hughes as a major American poet and gave voice to Black urban life with a style that blended lyric poetry, blues rhythm, jazz cadence, and everyday speech.

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City Reader. What book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

THE WEARY BLUES  

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....  

He did a lazy sway....  

To the tune o’ those Weary Blues... 

Langston Hughes. The Weary Blues, p. 1. Kindle Edition. 

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Anne of Head Full of Books. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Head Full of Books and visit others in the linky. 

POEM  (To F. S.) 

I loved my friend.  

He went away from me.  

There’s nothing more to say.  

The poem ends,  

Soft as it began,—  

I loved my friend. 

Langston Hughes. The Weary Blues, p. 92. Kindle Edition. 

The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes is a perfect book for me to read in February as a celebration of Black History Month. All my favorite Langston Hughes poems---"Dream Variations," "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," "Harlem Night Song," "The Dream Keeper," "Epilogue," "Mother to Son," and "Poem"---are in this volume. We used a couple of these for kids to recite during Poem in a Pocket Day at school. I also used to have my second graders memorize "Poem."

The Weary Blues is on my Classics Club list, and it also qualifies as a book published one hundred years ago for several challenges. 

The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.    

How do you feel about the current state of romance novels? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee-Addicted Writer)

I'm old school, but I'd be happier if my characters weren't so potty-mouthed these days, and if the bedroom door was kept closed.