The Weary Blues

"The Weary Blues” is a lyric poem with a jarring but infectious beat. It’s a lyric because it’s short and personal, and its hypnotic, topsy-turvy beat manifests through the intentionally uneven lines. Some lines have as many as 14 syllables, while others contain only a two-word, two-syllable exclamation like, “O Blues!” (Line 11 and 16) or “Sweet Blues!” (Line 14).

The speaker prepares the reader for the striking tone in the first line when the speaker announces that they were listening to a “drowsy syncopated tune” (Line 1). In case the poem's title didn’t make it clear, the diction reinforces the theme of blues music. The poem is about a blues song and has the tone and beat of a blues tune. Since the song is “syncopated”, the beats are off—where the beats are supposed to be strong, they’re weak, and where they’re supposed to be weak, they’re strong. In other words, the poem and the song will have a unique melody.

In Line 2, the musical diction continues. The speaker is “rocking back and forth to a mellow croon” (Line 2) or a soft song. The picture of the rocking speaker is an image since the speaker vividly describes how the song moved them.