Life is Fine

"Life is fine" by Langston Hughes

I went down to the river,

I set down on the bank.

I tried to think but couldn't,

So I jumped in and sank.

I came up once and hollered!

I came up twice and cried!

If that water hadn't a-been so cold

I might've sunk and died.

But it was Cold in that water! It was cold!

I took the elevator

Sixteen floors above the ground.

I thought about my baby

And thought I would jump down.

I stood there and I hollered!

I stood there and I cried!

If it hadn't a-been so high

I might've jumped and died.

But it was High up there! It was high!

So since I'm still here livin',

I guess I will live on.

I could've died for love--

But for livin' I was born

Though you may hear me holler,

And you may see me cry--

I'll be dogged, sweet baby,

If you gonna see me die.

Life is fine! Fine as wine! Life is fine

     "Life is Fine" is another poem written by Langston Hughes.  He's a famous poet from the Harlem Renaissance who has written many great and famous poems.  Once again, I read a poem by Langston Hughes on the topic of life.  Hughes speaks about life frequently in his poems and I think that this poem was truly good and deep in speaking about not just life, but death.  In life is fine, Langston Hughes depicts a person repeatedly trying to commit suicide, but continually failing to succeed.  I think that Hughes is trying to say that life is precious and that you can't just throw it away easily.

     The first four stanzas and the lines in between them show the part when the narrator is trying to commit suicide.  The person tries jumping off of a building and drowning themselves, but neither works.  In the last two stanzas and the one line after it, the narrator is explaining how he or she feels and how life is too precious and that since birth gave him/her life, he should hold onto it and not let it go.  I believe that this is the part of the poem that is explaining about how life is precious and that this part is the theme in this poem.

     I think that this lesson can be carried into life.  Everybody should understand that life is precious and that you can't give it up easily.  Life is a heavy thing and you have to value it.  Suicide is a big topic today and people commit suicide way more often then they should.  I think that this is a very important lesson for the young people of our community and that we must value life.