Po’ Boy Blues

• Oldest song known in blues origin• Rhyme scheme- ABABAC

– ABAB (first four lines express positive feelings)– AC (last two lines express negative feelings)

• Uses elision (Po’ An’ I’s, I’d)– Elision = omission of a sound

• “morn” (short for morning) “mourn” (to grieve)– Homonym - words identical in spelling or

pronunciation.

The Weary Blues

• Swaying rhythm of poem– “He did a lazy sway/He did a lazy

sway”– Evokes tone and tempo of blues

music

• Ebony/Ivory– Lustrous black/white imagery

• Onomatopoeia (Thump, thump, thump)

– A word that imitates the sound

Lonesome Place

• The lonesome place is the _______

• Uses the river for comfort• Repetition of the word

_______ at the end suggests that he is tired

• Po’ s, ‘bout are words that use the example of __________

town

weary

elision

Bound No’th Blues

• Bound Knowing the Blues– Trying to break away from the

depression and misery that is captured in blues music

• Most of the words are one syllable– Speeds up the pace of the

poem

• Uses elision– Goin’, “An’

Notes on Commercial Theater

• Allusions – references to people, places, or events– Hollywood Bowl- name of an

orchestra– Macbeth- a Shakesperean play– Carmen Jones- Broadway

musical– Swing Mikados- an opera