Why would the speaker in the poem, "Life is Fine" want to commit suicide, and why did he second guess suicide?
This poem was based upon a harsh time period where African Americans (males specifically) were treated as a minority, which can push one to a breaking point, which is formed into a ballad.
One literary/poetic device i noticed was repetition. An example of that used in the poem would be in stanzas two and six, on lines one and two; "I came up once and hollered, i came up twice and cried!" in which the speaker repeated that sentence into similar phrases multiple times.
Another literary/poetic device I found was situational irony. In the beginning half of the poem the speaker is describing scenes in which he was attempting suicide, however then second guessing the suicide at each attempt.
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However, instead the speaker decided that, "I 'll be dogged sweet baby, if you 're gonna see me die!" as stated in stanza 6, lines 3/4, which concludes to the fact that he in fact will NOT plan on committing suicide anytime soon.
In the poem "Life is fine", I interpreted the poem as the struggles of African American men in that time period (1949) being treated as a minority, therefore feeling as though being one, which can lead to suicidal tendencies. My response from this poem I received, is to never give up, because you can, and will, find the strength to get through life and become better each and every