The Weary Blues (AmazonClassics Edition)

By: Langston Hughes

Narrated by: Dion Graham

2022 SOVAS Award Winner for Best Voiceover Audiobook Narration—Classics

Langston Hughes was only twenty-four when he published his debut collection of poetry, The Weary Blues. The poems included here blend vernacular speech and musical rhythms to offer a bracing perspective on the African American experience. Traversing a wide range of settings—including the jazz clubs of Harlem, expansive natural landscapes, and seaside taverns—Hughes’s voice as a poet ties these various places together. The collection’s themes are equally wide-ranging: Hughes explores the depth of the soul in “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” the pain of endurance in “Mother to Son,” and death in the title poem’s haunting requiem for a weary blues singer. Taken together, these poems offer a singular expression of joy, pride, and anguish from one of the leading voices of the Harlem Renaissance.

Revised edition: Previously published as The Weary Blues, this edition of The Weary Blues (AmazonClassics Edition) includes editorial revisions.

Public Domain (P)2021 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Dion Graham's deep, melodious voice and natural sense of story give this classic book of Hughes's early poems a revelatory power. His sense of timing, clear timbre, and syncopated cadence elevate this remarkably diverse collection. Voicing the poet's jazz style, Graham smartly hooks onto Hughes's musicality: notably in the jazzy 'Harlem Nightclub,' rhythmic 'Song for a Banjo Dance,' and in the dark ennui of the title poem.... Written in an often intimate tone, read with measured power and empathy, the audiobook ends too soon.” (AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award winner)

Finally!

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Great collection of poems, quick read

I don’t typically read poetry because it’s not my particular cup of tea. I’m drawn more to fictional stories and some nonfiction as well; poetry just hasn’t resonated with me as much. However, I do have an appreciation for the author’s writing style and skill. The poems are not overly cryptic or ones that require an English degree to interpret. I would recommend this to anybody who is looking to read more poetry or is just getting started with poetry.

Fantastic

Excellent audio interpretation! Love this piece on the page, but hearing it aloud is so impactful.

Hidden Gem

The boring schoolbook cover doesn’t do this little treasure justice. The poems run the gamut from ones evocative of a specific time & place to ones that transcend boundaries and labels. Both the book and the individual poems are short enough not to get overwhelmed or bogged down. I was delighted to discover some old favorites in here I had forgotten were Langston Hughes! Dion Graham’s narration demonstrates how potent it is to hear, & not only read, poetry

Melancholy Magic

The performance by the narrator was the best part of this book. He really made it come to life. Thank you.

The story is sad, disjointed and unclear… but the depression and oppression of Mr. Hughes rings true. I am perturbed by the many mentions of sex workers and women represented mainly by their sexual activity/partners… but unsure if it’s offensive or perhaps just a limited world view in the context of this book.