IT lesson 1

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!

There are uses of figurative language in the poem.

Example of hyperboles in this poem would be ‘But it was Cold in that water! It was cold!’ and ‘But it was High up there! It was high!’ The writer repeated the feelings to exaggerate the feeling of coldness and how high it was respectively.

As for similes, there is ‘fine as wine’. This is linking life to wine, which is normally nice to people who like it. By saying ‘Life is fine! Fine as wine!’, the writer is trying to say that in the end he felt that life is good.

Last but not least, there is symbolism. The cold water symbolizes that life is harsh and there will be times that we feel that we are unable to go on living. This symbolizes that the person’s who wants to commit suicide grief in life.

2. I like this poem because it is very meaningful. It teaches us not to give up and to push forward even if life seems to be weighing down on you. The person in the poem who wants to commit suicide cannot bring himself to do so because a part of him still holds on to life no matter what happens. When he wanted to drown himself, he couldn’t do it because he felt the cold and decided not to. When he wanted to end his life by jumping off a building, once again he couldn’t bring himself to do it because of the height. If he really wanted to stop living, he would have just let go of his feelings and just do it, which he didn’t. Although he was very unhappy about the things going on around him, he still had a strong will to life on for the sake of her child. This shows that everyone will struggle throughout life, but that we will always have hope within us.

Thank you