Ennui

Ennui - fact Summary

Reflects Hughes' Hardships

This four-line poem compresses a weary, blunt complaint about persistent poverty. Its spare diction and short lines present ennui as a lived condition rather than abstract melancholy. The poem reflects Langston Hughes’s experiences with economic hardship and racial discrimination, turning a personal, social reality into a concise, resonant statement about the daily tedium and limitations imposed by poverty.