Ann was surprised and flattered to discover that her poem Musings on Music has been used in an essay on poetry and music submitted to several websites. Known as 33431, this essay comparing the poetry of Ann Cragg and Langston Hughes is being widely reprinted and circulated across the net. The anonymous essay is reprinted below in its entirety.

Music tends to be the most popular form of free verse in today's society. Many people can remember song lyrics rather than trying to remember the lines of a famous poem. Nevertheless, music and poetry have links between them. One connection is that poets have a tendency of writing poems about music, but they look at music in considerably different ways. Examples of two poems that do this are The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes and Musings on Music by Ann Cragg.

The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes describes Hughes' fascination for blues music. His appeal for the blues is so high that he even describes a singer and his lyrics in the poem. "He played a few chords then he sang some more -- 'I got the Weary Blues'" (24-25). In this line, Hughes may be describing the singer and his lyrics, but he is also saying that he has the "weary blues." In fact, the whole poem could be a blues song that is being sung by Hughes, which is further evidence that Hughes is fascinated with blues. One reason that this could be sung by Hughes is the effectiveness of his rhymes throughout the whole poem. His rhymes are smooth, they flow with so much rhythm, and they are consistent just as if it were a song. Hughes' rhymes point to the idea of how associated poems and music are. From a reader's perspective, it can be seen as lyrics to a song because of his powerful and consistent rhymes. In addition, Hughes' repetition of the phrase "O Blues!" (11, 16) is clear indication of his appreciation for blues music. Langston Hughes in his poem The Weary Blues writes an ode to the blues, and he is so effective at it that he makes it appear it like a blues song.

In contrast, Ann Cragg's poem, Musings on Music, does not make the same case as Hughes. Cragg discusses in her poem the love that people have for music in general. She starts the poem off with some intriguing questions: "What did people do before the advent of music? How did they stay calm throughout a long, nerve-wracking day?" (Cragg). In other words, Cragg is talking about the significance of music to society. When people are full of stress, they look for music to make them feel better. This is the message that Cragg is trying to portray in these introductory lines of her poem. The first stanza of her poem consists of several interesting questions that could be difficult to answer. The second stanza is statements about music and its meaning to society. "Music is a common language spoken round the world; Music builds a bridge between all peoples and all lands" (Cragg). Cragg makes a bold statement about music by saying that it is a language that everybody around the world can speak. Many people around the world obviously listen to different types of music, but Cragg is stating that it does not matter what type. This is because music is music, and people listen to it for the same purposes. All these purposes are the questions that she asks in the first stanza of the poem, such as to "relax after a long, hard day at work" (Cragg) or to sing and dance. To show how important Cragg thinks music is, she ends her poem with the same question that she started it: "What did people do before the advent of music?" Obviously, Cragg is depicting the message that music is an essential part of society.

Although they perform it in different ways, Langston Hughes and Ann Cragg both illustrate the significance of music and the link between music and poetry in each of their poems. Hughes shows his interest for blues in his poem by making it appear like a blues song. Cragg just simply states how music makes a bond between different people from different places. Hughes does not directly state the value of music like Cragg does, but it is evident that the same message is there. This is because of Hughes' means of getting his message across about blues music, which is in a lyrical way just like a song. In other words, music is so influential to Hughes that he decided to make his poem in the form of a blues song. Unlike Hughes, Cragg directly states the influence of music by stating that "Music is a bond of love in which we all clasp hands." Nonetheless, Ann Cragg and Langston Hughes both make the link between music and poetry in their works.