Life Is Fine, By Langston Hughes
According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, or the ADAA, around 6.7% of Americans have diagnosed depression. Which means it is not too hard to believe that some of the most prolific poets of the modern era, have suffered from this terrible illness. Langston Hughes was a popular poet who had a great effect on the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. In the poem, “Life is Fine” the narrators struggles with the decision of either staying alive or commiting suicide. Langston Hughes use of uplifting colloquialism and tragic-sounding imagery in the poem, “Life is Fine” demonstrates how with careful wording an incredibly serious topic of depression, can be changed into something that sounds positive and happy, which is
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Starting with Hughes life during The Great Depression. He worked several jobs, and during that period in his life was when he discovered his love for jazz music. He began writing songs and slowly started getting into the field of poetry. Which he did not gain the support from his family. His father believed that he could not write poems mainly due to the fact that black poets were not nearly as common as they are now. Which Hughes later proved completely wrong as the poetry he beautifully and meticulously wrote still finds itself being read and loved all over, from people of all backgrounds and lifes. Langston Hughes had a great deal of influence during the American Civil Rights Movement. He is accredited to have done a great deal for the movement, and he even was vocal about his beliefs. According to an article published by the Oxford University Press, “As a radical democrat, he believed that art should be accessible to as many people as possible.” He was a communist, and during the Red Scare at that, which put a lot of stress and focus onto his life, as he was declared unAmerican by Joe McCartney. Arnold Rampersad said, “Nevertheless, political protest was a key aspect of his writing.” Which with all the added stress to his life it is suddenly less surprising that he would be a victim of mental illness and all the struggles that come with
Starting with Hughes life during The Great Depression. He worked several jobs, and during that period in his life was when he discovered his love for jazz music. He began writing songs and slowly started getting into the field of poetry. Which he did not gain the support from his family. His father believed that he could not write poems mainly due to the fact that black poets were not nearly as common as they are now. Which Hughes later proved completely wrong as the poetry he beautifully and meticulously wrote still finds itself being read and loved all over, from people of all backgrounds and lifes. Langston Hughes had a great deal of influence during the American Civil Rights Movement. He is accredited to have done a great deal for the movement, and he even was vocal about his beliefs. According to an article published by the Oxford University Press, “As a radical democrat, he believed that art should be accessible to as many people as possible.” He was a communist, and during the Red Scare at that, which put a lot of stress and focus onto his life, as he was declared unAmerican by Joe McCartney. Arnold Rampersad said, “Nevertheless, political protest was a key aspect of his writing.” Which with all the added stress to his life it is suddenly less surprising that he would be a victim of mental illness and all the struggles that come with