Notes for "The Weary Blues"

1. "Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,":
"syncopated": A musical term that refers to rhythm created by stressing a normally weak beat. This is an important clue to the musical and rhythmic quality of the poem.

2. "Down on Lenox Avenue the other night":
Lenox Avenue: A street in Harlem.

3. "He made that poor piano moan with melody.":
"poor piano moan": This is an example of personification, since a piano cannot literally moan. There are several reasons Hughes might have chosen the word "moan." One might be that a moan recalls the sound and meaning of the singer's "blues," making the piano and the voice work together to create the effect of the song.

4. "     O Blues!":
blues: A musical form that originally came from a variety of African American oral traditions, including work songs and spirituals. Although the form varies, the standard has come to be 12- or 8-bar phrases, in three line stanzas, with lyrics that often repeat the lines above them. Thematically, the blues often deal with life's hardships.

5. "Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.":
"thump, thump, thump": This is an example of onomatopoeia. By beginning the second stanza with this three-word phrase, Hughes literally recreates the sound of the rhythmic foot tapping of the piano player. For the reader, this establishes the beat for reading the lyrics of the blues that will follow.