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“Dreams” by Langston Hughes (1923)
Like the blues singer’s lyrics in “The Weary Blues,” “Dreams” has an identifiable rhyme scheme in which every other line rhymes. Unlike the form of “The Weary Blues,” “Dreams” has an even shape, with the lines held together by two quatrains (four-line stanzas). Additionally, “Dreams” contains broken, forlorn imagery like a “broken-winged bird” and “a barren field.” According to the speaker, such desolation is what happens when “dreams die.” Paired with “The Weary Blues,” “Dreams” helps explain the anguished state of the blues musician. When the blues musician sleeps, he has no dreams. Instead, he’s like a rock or a man that’s dead.
“Lenox Avenue: Midnight” by Langston Hughes (1926)
“Lenox Avenue: Midnight” is another poem featured in The Weary Blues. Like the poem “The Weary Blues,” this poem, as the title indicates, takes place on Lenox Avenue and tries to replicate the sound of music—this time, the focus is on jazz. The speaker connects the “rhythm of life” to “jazz rhythm.” This poem and “The Weary Blues” use atmosphere, with Hughes building the environment of Lenox Avenue with lines like “the rumble of street cars” and “the swish of rain.
By Langston Hughes
Children’s Rhymes
Langston Hughes
Cora Unashamed
Langston Hughes
Dreams
Langston Hughes
Harlem
Langston Hughes
I look at the world
Langston Hughes
I, Too
Langston Hughes
Let America Be America Again
Langston Hughes
Me and the Mule
Langston Hughes
Mother to Son
Langston Hughes
Mulatto
Langston Hughes
Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life
Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston
Not Without Laughter
Langston Hughes
Slave on the Block
Langston Hughes
Thank You, M'am
Langston Hughes
The Big Sea
Langston Hughes
Theme for English B
Langston Hughes
The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain
Langston Hughes
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Langston Hughes
The Ways of White Folks
Langston Hughes
Tired
Langston Hughes