Poem Analysis: Life And Death By Langston Hughes

The exposition of this poem written by Langston Hughes is about life and death. Langston talks about committing suicide and how he attempted to kill himself many times. The narrator faces many challenges in his life such as a failed relationship .As I continued reading the poem the author renews his intentions on living, and finds out he is here on this earth for a reason.

The speaker used the cold water as an excuse. He says he may sink if the water was not cold therefore, he might sink and die. This excuse leads the speaker to change his thoughts. It was important for the speaker to accept the way that life forces him .Also knowing that there would be hard times in life .You can overcome anything if you believe in yourself.

The rising action
of this poem is when the speaker tries to jump off the sixteen floors. The speaker thinks about his baby which makes him have second thought of not committing suicide. The speaker also has inner self problems. This made the speaker think of all the things surrounding him if he jumped off the building .This event made the speaker appreciate what he had in life.

The climax of the poem is when the speaker finally knows what’s his purpose of living is. The speaker admits that he has self problems when he says “So since I’m still here living, I guess I will live on, I could’ve died for love, but for living I was born. This was very interesting to me because I would’ve never thought the speaker would admit this. I believe this is the climax because it was the most intense, exciting and important part of the story.

The falling action in the story is when the speaker says “though you may see me cry, Ill be dogged, sweet baby, if you goanna see me die “.
This was the falling action because he didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for him. The speaker was referring to his baby. Also the speaker didn’t want anyone to be there while he was attempting suicide. As he remembers his baby, he sees there will be time still left for him on this earth.

The final conclusion in this poem is “life is fine, fine as wine, life is fine “.The speaker has finally admitted that he loves life. There is no point on wasting life. Also finding out that committing suicide was not the right choice. The speaker is trying to teach us not to think the way he was thinking before, and that every negative side has a positive side .I believe the speaker was happy to be alive because he just recognized what he would be missing out on if he left this world to soon.

The speakers tone defiantly changed throughout the poem. The beginning the speaker was not happy and he had very bad mood and depressed. Throughout the story the speaker started to gain life and coming more to a proactive life. The speaker also is trying to teach us life is beautiful and whatever happens never commit suicide. Overall the poem went from being negative to a positive poem with a
moral.