Laugh And Be Merry Analysis

Laugh and be Merry, by John Masefield
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 brief, a thread the length of a span.
Laugh and be proud to belong to the old proud pageant of man.

Laugh and be merry: remember, in olden time.
God made Heaven and Earth for joy He took in a rhyme,
Made them, and filled them full with the strong red wine of
His mirth
The splendid joy of the stars: the joy of the earth.

So we must laugh and drink from the deep blue cup of the sky,
Join the jubilant song of the great stars sweeping by,
Laugh, and battle, and work, and drink of the wine outpoured
In the dear green earth, the sign of the joy of the Lord.

Laugh and be merry together, like brothers akin,
Guesting awhile in the rooms of a beautiful inn,
Glad till the dancing stops, and the lilt of the music ends.
Laugh till the game is played; and be you merry, my friends.

The primary idea of creation is happiness. Masefield in this poem reminds us that sorrow or unhappiness is a passing thing; what is lasting and universal is joy. Life is not a bed of roses. In moments of challenges and sufferings, men will do well to have recourse to nature which is an embodiment of God's beauty and grandeur.
The poet advises us to laugh and be merry. He say:
“Laugh and be merry, remember, better the world with a song, Better the world with a blow in the teeth of a wrong.”
Man should face the trials, life casts in his way with determination without relinquishing to dejection. The duration of man's life on Earth is short. So he should make use of his short, brief stay on Earth by laughing away his troubles and sorrows. Man should remember, how in olden times, God created Heaven and Earth for giving joy to him. He shaped with the sweet pattern of music and filled them with intoxicating wine, namely his extreme joy and delight. As the very purpose of God is to provide men with joy, man must laugh and