The Weary Blues and the Trumpet Plauer

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Until the dawn of the 20th century the pale-skinned poets and their rose-tinted interpretation of the world dominated the whimsical world of literature. But the fiery uprising of the Harlem Renaissance in the early 1920’s shook America to its core. Fortified black voices broke out across the nation, effectively using rhythms and cadences so clearly defined by the African-American culture, but the soulful voice that rose above the rest was the voice of Langston Hughes. The poetry that Hughes crafted was filled with sensual rhythms and beats. His stanzas united the beautiful simplicity of blues and jazz music with the heart rendering soulful cries of a race defined by oppression. The influence of music in the poetry of Langston Hughes is clearly evident in two poems entitled The Trumpet Player and The Weary Blues. Commonalities can be drawn on various literary and musical devices effectively utilized to instill a feeling of poignancy, regardless of race or affiliation. Three such commonalities are the use of vivid imagery, the influence of musical techniques and tone. Techniques used to conjure a voice for the African American race, a voice flouted by the white American.

The effective use of imagery Hughes employs in both The Trumpet Player and The Weary Blues truly submerges the poems into the heart of the reader. In The Weary Blues Langston Hughes describes an outing listening to a blues musician in Harlem, and gives the reader an awareness of the emotional state of the troubled musician. “ With his ebony hands on each ivory key he made that poor piano moan with melody,” a sorrowful yet elegant display of imagery. The image of those black hands on the pale ivory keys implies the transformation of an instrument typical of Western culture and idealisms, with a flavour and flair characterized by the Harlem Renaissance. The piano itself is personified as the soulful
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