The Weary Blues And Go Down, Death By James Weldon Johnson
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What is it like to interpret death into two very different meanings? That is a question many people ask themselves every day. Some would say death is the “easy” way out. Meaning, death is the only solution because life is too hard or unsatisfactory. Others would say death is the inevitable ending of life and is unavoidable, so it shouldn’t be anything to be feared. Most people find it difficult to differentiate an alligator from a crocodile. Sometimes it’s the same with literary works. Although they seem similar in writing, they are very different in other aspects, too. For example, “The Weary Blues” by Langston Hughes and “Go Down, Death” by James Weldon Johnson were both written during the Harlem Renaissance. They have many similarities but they also have many differences.…show more content… Hughes called “The Weary Blues” his “lucky poem” because it placed first in a literary contest sponsored by the National Urban League in 1925. In “The Weary Blues”, the poem starts off with the speaker telling someone about a piano player he heard a few nights ago. This musician was playing a slow blues song with all his heart and soul. The speaker is deeply moved into the depressing music. This is evident beginning at line 19 (Ain’t got nobody in all this world,). The musician is singing about how, even though he is unhappy, he is going to push his worries to the side. As the poem progresses, the narrator describes the singer expressing his isolation, vexation, and doubt about his future. It is through his singing that his “melancholy heart” is revealed and at somewhat ease.
In the second stanza, the musician states nothing can cure his depression, and he wishes he was dead. He plays late into the night, and when he finally goes to bed, he sleeps like a dead person or someone that is unable to