o the plight ofNegro womanhood, particularly in the last stanza: I’m gonna buy me a rose bud An’ plantit at my back door, Buy me a rose bud, plant it at my back door, So when I’m dead theywon’t need No flowers from the store. (19 -24) In a manner similar to the last part of“The Weary Blues,” the last bit of “Midwinter Blues” seems surprisingly life-affirming.Although the woman blatantly addresses her physical death and the emotional death ofher relationship, the notion of planting flowers indicates a concrete movement toward lifeand cyclic hope. In this fashion, “Midwinter Blues” also becomes a fully realized productof Hughes’ Blues aesthetic, healing itself while wallowing in its pain. Throughout hiswork, Hughes develops and relies on a sensitive, self-conscious poetic voice -- a voicewhich sheds light on the African-American experience through its incisive use of simple,direct, descriptive language. This application allows his writing to transcend from merepoetic documentation to esteemed art in its own right. With his evocations, Hughes plantsand harvests his Blues aesthetic again and again. He brings incredible intelligence andpoignancy to the every-day struggles of marginilization, loss, and human difficulty.Rather than simply rehashing the agony of being human (and Black) into poetic whining,however, Hughes turns pain into a beautiful process of healing by embrace. This activegrasp of the human condition gives unspeakable power to his Blues aesthetic, which inturn gives power to Hughes’ overall artistic endeavor, leading his readers “far into thenight [to] croon that tune” (The Weary Blues, 31). ...
