To first understand Langston Hughes' blues you must first know what blues is and what the common meter is for blues. Blues is basically a line pertaining to a time or event followed by another line that has something to do with the first line. A repetition of the first two lines is then done to create emphasis. A last line or

After knowing what blues is and how it is to be read the poems by Hughes can be broken down. In poem one, "Hard Daddy", it is quite literal. The tone is sad, the speaker is upset about her "man". The speaker's father is not the loving kind. He turns his shoulder on the occasion of his daughter needing help. Angered, the speaker wishes she "had wing to/ Fly like the eagle flies. / I'd fly on ma man an'/ I'd scratch out both his eyes." Like the blues, this poem is quite literal. Hughes used the basic format of blues to convey a moment in time.

Poem two, "Midwinter Blues", is about a woman left by a man. The quote, "Left when the coal was low", can be interpreted as the speakers "man" left while times were hard and money was low. The speaker talks of love and how she will no longer love another. The tone is quite s

Some common words found in the essay are:
Hard Daddy, Langston Hughes', Midwinter Blues, Little Letter, Langston Hughes, Helping African-American, iambic trochee, hard daddy, common iambic trochee, basic format blues, poem hard daddy, rhyme scheme, basic format, blues blues, format blues, lyrical blues, poem hard, poems hughes, blues lyrics,
Approximate Word count = 551
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)