Langston Hughes was only twenty-four when he published his debut collection of poetry, The Weary Blues . The poems included here blend vernacular speech and musical rhythms to offer a bracing perspective on the African American experience. Traversing a wide range of settings―including the jazz clubs of Harlem, expansive natural landscapes, and seaside taverns―Hughes’s voice as a poet ties these various places together. The collection’s themes are equally wide-ranging: Hughes explores the depth of the soul in “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” the pain of endurance in “Mother to Son,” and death in the title poem’s haunting requiem for a weary blues singer. Taken together, these poems offer a singular expression of joy, pride, and anguish from one of the leading voices of the Harlem Renaissance. Revised edition: Previously published as The Weary Blues , this edition of The Weary Blues (AmazonClassics Edition) includes editorial revisions. James Mercer Langston Hughes (1901–1967) was an American author, translator, and columnist who played a prominent role in the Harlem Renaissance. Born in Joplin, Missouri, Hughes moved to New York City at a young age and quickly managed to publish his first book of poetry, The Weary Blues . It was followed by an award-winning debut novel, Not Without Laughter , and a collection of short stories, The Ways of White Folks . Hughes’s prolific and distinguished career included plays, operas, Broadway musicals, books for children, a screenplay, essays, and two autobiographies, The Big Sea and I Wonder as I Wander . Hughes also founded the Skyloft Players in Chicago, which nurtured the theatrical careers of Black artists, and contributed a social protest column for the Chicago Defender . It ran from 1942 into the early 1960s.