{"product_id":"the-weary-blues-isbn-9780385352970","title":"The Weary Blues","description":"\u003cb\u003eThis celebratory edition of the classic poetry collection reminds us of Hughes's stunning achievement, speaking directly, intimately, and powerfully of Black experiences at a time when Black voices were newly being heard in American literature. \u003cb\u003e• \u003cb\u003eWith an introduction by poet Kevin Young.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBeginning with the opening “Proem” (prologue poem) Huges writes, “I am a Negro: \/ Black as the night is black, \/ Black like the depths of my Africa.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs the legendary Carl Van Vechten wrote in a brief introduction to the original 1926 edition, “His cabaret songs throb with the true jazz rhythm; his sea-pieces ache with a calm, melancholy lyricism; he cries bitterly from the heart of his race...Always, however, his stanzas are subjective, personal,” and, he concludes, they are the expression of “an essentially sensitive and subtly illusive nature.” That illusive nature darts among these early lines and begins to reveal itself, with precocious confidence and clarity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn a new introduction to the work, the poet and editor Kevin Young suggests that Hughes, who was 24 at the time of the original publication, from this very first moment is “celebrating, critiquing, and completing the American dream,” and that he manages to take Walt Whitman’s American “I” and write himself into it. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe find here not only such classics as “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” and the great twentieth-century anthem that begins “I, too, sing America,” but also the poet’s shorter lyrics and fancies, which dream just as deeply. “Bring me all of your \/ Heart melodies,” the young Hughes offers, “That I may wrap them \/ In a blue cloud-cloth \/ Away from the too-rough fingers \/ Of the world.”“Langston Hughes is a titanic figure in 20th-century American literature . . . a powerful interpreter of the American experience.” —\u003ci\u003eThe Philadelphia Inquirer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003eLANGSTON HUGHES was born in Joplin, Missouri, in 1902. After graduation from high school, he spent a year in Mexico with his father, then a year studying at Columbia University. His first poem published in a nationally known magazine was “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” which appeared in \u003ci\u003eCrisis\u003c\/i\u003e in 1921. In 1925, he was awarded the First Prize for Poetry from the magazine \u003ci\u003eOpportunity\u003c\/i\u003e for “The Weary Blues,” which gave its title to this, his first book of poems. Hughes received his B.A. from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania in 1929. In 1943, he was awarded an honorary Litt.D. by his alma mater; during his lifetime, he was also awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship (1935), a Rosenwald Fellowship (1940), and an American Academy of Arts and Letters Grant (1947). From 1926 until his death in 1967, Hughes devoted his time to writing and lecturing. He wrote poetry, short stories, autobiography, song lyrics, essays, humor, and plays. A cross section of his work was published in 1958 as \u003ci\u003eThe Langston Hughes Reader; \u003c\/i\u003ea \u003ci\u003eSelected Poems\u003c\/i\u003e first appeared in 1959 and a \u003ci\u003eCollected Poems\u003c\/i\u003e in 1994. Today, his many works and his contribution to American letters continue to be cherished and celebrated around the world.\u003c\/p\u003eDream Variation\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e To fling my arms wide\u003cbr\u003e In some place of the sun,\u003cbr\u003e To whirl and to dance\u003cbr\u003e Till the white day is done.\u003cbr\u003e Then rest at cool evening\u003cbr\u003e Beneath a tall tree\u003cbr\u003e While night comes on gently,\u003cbr\u003e Dark like me,—\u003cbr\u003e That is my dream!\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e To fling my arms wide\u003cbr\u003e In the face of the sun,\u003cbr\u003e Dance! whirl! whirl!\u003cbr\u003e Till the quick day is done.\u003cbr\u003e Rest at pale evening….\u003cbr\u003e A tall, slim tree….\u003cbr\u003e Night coming tenderly\u003cbr\u003e Black like me.","brand":"Knopf","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233764946149,"sku":"NP9780385352970","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780385352970.jpg?v=1767742167","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-weary-blues-isbn-9780385352970","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}