TylerPool

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I chose this painting by Aaron Douglas because of his background and painting style. According to biographies and other sources, all of his paintings were heavily influenced by the "New Negro" Style of work, which earned him critics and patrons from different audiences.

I chose the Poem Weary blues by Langston Hughes. I chose this poem because of the direct affect it had on other Harlem renaissance artist, musicians, and other poets. This poem caused many mixed emotions from a wide variety of audiences, from the love of white patrons to the scorn of other black artist. I feel this image and this poem connect because of the author’s views and effects that they had on the rest of the Harlem renaissance. This image is of two men and a woman singing the blues at a concert, and the poem is about why a man is singing the blues.

The weary blues by 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 . . . He did a lazy sway . . . To the tune o' those Weary Blues. With his ebony hands on each ivory key He made that poor piano moan with melody. O Blues! Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool. Sweet Blues! Coming from a black man's soul. O Blues! In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan-- "Ain't got nobody in all this world, Ain't got nobody but ma self. I's gwine to quit ma frownin' And put ma troubles on the shelf." Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor. He played a few chords then he sang some more-- "I got the Weary Blues And I can't be satisfied. Got the Weary Blues And can't be satisfied-- I ain't happy no mo' And I wish that I had died." And far into the night he crooned that tune. The stars went out and so did the moon. The singer stopped playing and went to bed While the Weary Blues echoed through his head. He slept like a rock or a man that's dead. "