Laugh And Be Merry
The poem is philosophical which suggests the idea that life is a combination of happiness and sorrow and we should face the every challenge with strong courage.The poem suggests the need of positive attitude in life. The time span is very limited and we should take advantage of life as much as possible. It also says that we should enjoy the life to its fullest. We should enjoy the life till the music of life ends.
Nature is very beautiful and God had created the moon and stars for the pleasures of human beings. We should be proud that we belong to the history of human beings.
Summary of the Poem
‘Laugh And Be Merry is a highly optimistic poem written by John Masefield. This poem makes a passionate plea to enjoy life to the maximum. The Poet says that sufferings are a part of our life, but we can over come them with a smile on our face. The Poet says that laugh and be merry should be the motto of our life. The Poet says that we can make the world better to live in by our joyous laughter. We can defend ourselves against pain of life by giving a blow in their face.
The Poet says that life is very short so we should enjoy each and every moment of it. Man is the loftiest creation of God. We should feel proud that we belong to this race. The Poet says that God created this world for our enjoyment. He says that the world is like a vessel. God filled this vessel with strong and red wine of happiness and joy. God also created the sky and earth for our enjoyment. So we should feel and enjoy the beauty of all these beautiful natural objects. He has created sky for us. The sky is like a cup. He filled this cup with the wine of happiness and delight. We must drink from this cup, i.e., we must enjoy the beauty of twinkling stars and the moonlit sky. We must enjoy the beautiful procession of stars moving across the sky.
The Poet further advises us to fight the battle of life with a smile on our face. The Poet says that everything we see on this green earth is made by God for the enjoyment of mankind. The Poet says that God created us all; so, we are like a brothers. Poet says that this world is like beautiful inn. We all are guests in the room of this inn for sometime. This means that life is short, like a stay in an inn. So we should sing and dance and enjoy life. Life is like a game and we should play it happily till the end. We should enjoy our life till the day of doom.
Explain with Reference to the Context:
Stanza 1
Laugh and be merry, remember, better the world with a song better the world with a blow in the teeth of a wrong laugh, for the time is breaf, a thread the length of a span laugh, and the proud to belong to the old proud pageant of man.”
Reference to Context
The lines quoted above have been taken from the poem ‘Laugh And Be Merry’ written by John Masefield. The title itself indicates the central theme of the poem. The Poet says that life is short, so the principle of our life should be to laugh and make merry. Sufferings are a part of our life but we can subdue them by a smile on our lips. This poem makes a passionate plea to enjoy the life to the maximum.
Explanation
In these lines, the poet says that we should lead a cheerful and carefree life. Laugh and be merry should be the motto of our life. We can make the world better to live in by our joyous laughter. We can relieve ourselves from pains of life by giving a blow in their face. The Poet suggests that life is very short. So, we should enjoy each and every minute of it. Man is the loftiest creation of God. We should feel proud that we belong to this race.
Stanza 2
The Poet says that God created us. He also created this world for our enjoyment like the enjoyment of listening to a song. The World is like a vessel. And God filled this vessel with strong and red wine of happiness and joy. God also created the sky and the earth for our enjoyment. So, we should feel and enjoy the beauty of all these beautiful natural objects.
Stanza 3
Reference to Context
The lines quoted above have been taken from John Masefield’s poem ‘Laugh And Be Merry’. The title itself indicates the central theme of the poem. The Poet says that life is short, so we should enjoy each and every moment of it. Laugh and be merry should be the motto of our life. Sufferings are a part of our life, but we can subdue them by a smile on our face. This poem makes a passionate plea to enjoy the life to the maximum.
Explanation
In these lines the poet says that God created this word for our enjoyment. He says that sky is like a cup. He filled this cup with the wine of happiness and delight. We must drink from this cup, i.e., we must enjoy the beauty of the twinkling stars and the moonlit sky. We must enjoy the beautiful procession of stars moving across the sky. We should fight the battle of life with a smile on our face. Everything that we see on this green earth is made by God for the joy of mankind.
Stanza 4
Reference to Context
The lines quoted above have been taken from John Masefield’s poem ‘Laugh And Be Merry’. The title itself indicates the central theme of the poem. The Poet says that to laugh and be merry should be the principle of our life. Life is very short, so we should enjoy each and every moment of it. The Poet says that sufferings are a part of our life, but we can subdue them by a smile on our face. This poem makes a passionate plea to enjoy life to the maximum.
Explanation
The Poet says that God created us all; so, we are like brothers. So we should laugh and make merry together like brothers. The Poet says that this world is like a beautiful inn. We all are guests in the room of inn for sometime. This means life is short-lived, like the stay in an inn. So we should sing and dance and enjoy every minute of this short life. Life is a kind of game. We should play it happily till the end. It means we should enjoy our life till our death.
Question-Answer (Short Type)
Q.1. How, according to the poet, can we make the world better?
Ans.: Poet says that we can make the world better with our joys and laughter. Sufferings are a part of our life. We should face them bravely. We can subdue our pains with a smile on our face. Laugh and be merry should be the principle of our life. God created this world for the enjoyment of mankind. So we must enjoy the beauties of the world. World looks better with a smile on our face. It is also said-smile and the whole world smiles with you.
Q. 2. Why did God create earth and heaven?
Ans.: God created earth and heaven for the enjoyment of mankind.
Q. 3. What is meant by ‘Old proud pagent of man’?
Ans.: The Poet says that man is the loftiest creation of God on this earth. He made the world only for the enjoyment of mankind. So, we should feel proud that we belong to this home and race.
Q. 4. What is the sign of joy of the lord?
Ans.: This beautiful green earth is a sign of the joy of God. He filled this earth with many beautiful objects for the enjoyment of mankind.
Q. 5. Why is this life compared to an inn?
Ans.: The poet says that the world is like a beautiful inn. We all are guests in the rooms of this inn for sometime. Our stay in the inn is very short. What the poet is that life is like a stay in the inn. We all seems to be suggesting have to meet death one day; so, we should enjoy each and every moment of it
Q. 6. Identify the words and phrases which indicate happiness?
Ans.: There are many words and phrases in the poem which indicate happiness. These words and phrases are: ‘Laugh and be merry’, ‘song’, ‘rhyme’, ‘mirth’, ‘pageant of man’, ‘dancing’, ‘old proud pageant’. All these words indicate the central theme of the poem. According to the poet, laugh and be merry should be the motto of our life. We should face the sufferings of our life with a smile on our face.
Question-Answer (Essay Type)
Q.1. Describe the philosophy of life outlined in the poem.
Ans.: ‘Laugh and be merry’ is a highly philosophical poem. The philosophy of life propounded in the poem is that of cheerfulness and of having a brave attitude against the wrongs done to us. This poem teaches us to fight the wrongs done to us. The Poet says that life is very short; so, we should enjoy each and every moment of it. We can make this world a better place to live in with our joyous attitude. The Poet says that sufferings are a part of our life. But we should face them with a smile on our face. Our smiles are a kind of blow in the face of pains. The Poet says that man is the loftiest creation of God in this world. So we should feel proud that we belong to this race. The Poet further says that God has created this world only for the enjoyment of man. He also created many other things like the green earth, beautiful sky for us. All these beautiful natural objects are a gift of God to us. The Poet says that world is like a vessel. God filled this vessel with the wine of joy and delight. We must drink this wine, i.e., we should enjoy the beauties of this world. The Poet further says that this world is like an inn. We all are guests in this inn. Our stay in this inn is very short. After sometime we have to move to some other place. We, guests in the inn, are like brothers. We must sing, dance and enjoy the life together. The simple meaning of this is that life is short. We should enjoy this life to the maximum. Thus, the philosophy of life outlined in the poem is that of happiness and to be brave in the face of sufferings.
Q. 2. Why is the poets attitude to life important? How does this poem help acquire positive attitude to life?
OR
What is Theme of the poem ‘Laugh And Be Merry’
Ans.: The poem ‘Laugh And Be Merry’ teaches us to adopt a positive attitude to life. Positive thinking is very important. A person with a positive thinking can face all the troubles of life with a smile on his face. With a smile he can subdue all his sufferings and pains. This poem helps us to acquire positive attitude to life. It makes a plea to enjoy life to the maximum. It teaches us that to laugh and be merry should be the motto of our life. We can make this world a better place to live in by spreading happiness. Life is very short; so, we should not waste in worry. We should feel proud that we are human beings, the loftiest creation of God. This world has been created by God only for our enjoyment. God has also created many other things like the green earth and beautiful blue sky. All these things are only for us. So, we should not neglect the gift of God. We must take interest in these beautiful things and be cheerful. The poet says that this world is like an inn. We all are guests in the room of this inn for sometime. So we should laugh and make merry together like brothers. Life is very short just like a stay in the inn. So we should sing, dance and enjoy each and every minute of it. The Poet says that this life is like a game. We should play it happily till the end. It means that we should enjoy our life till the day of our death.Thus, the poem suggests that in order to lead a happy life, we need to acquire a positive attitude.
