“The Weary Blues” uses end-stop often, though not in any particular pattern. Instead, the poem’s end-stops reflect and reinforce its own music and sense of rhythm. In other words, the poem uses end-stop to help it imitate the distinctive sound and feeling of the blues. The device helps the poem do more than simply describe a blues song: it helps the poem become a blues song in its own right.
One can hear the music of the poem’s end-stops in lines 6-7:
He did a lazy sway…
He did a lazy sway…
Both lines are end-stopped—indeed, the lines are identical, repeating each other exactly. They serve as refrains, almost like the chorus of a pop-song. The end-stops make the lines sound definite, contained, even iconic: they give the lines all the punch and definition that a really good chorus needs.
Similarly, in the blues singer’s song, he uses end-stop to mark the ends of musical phrases. Note the way that lines 26 and 28 are both end-stopped:
I got the Weary Blues
And I can’t be satisfied.
Got the Weary Blues
And can’t be satisfied.
Lines 25 and 27 introduce a phrase; lines 26 and 28 complete it and close it off. This stable structure emphasizes the repetition of words and phrases in these lines, making them even more musical. The poem’s end-stops thus bring out the music of the poem’s language—and, in that way, help the speaker imitate the rhythm and feel of the blues.
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