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/john masefield/public domain) which of these is the main idea of the poem? a. music makes people happy. b. life is short; laugh and be merry. c. fighting doesn't resolve problems. d. take pride in being a human being.

Returning from vietnam, we were indeed given a parade. crowds of screaming people waving signs — not just on one road, one day. no, they were everywhere. every day. on the streets, on the television, on the radio. a hot, angry tangle of shaking fists and ugly words that threatened us like a monster with a hundred heads. our country had chewed us up and spit us out, and now we were being treated as if it were our fault. what is one way the author's use of language contributes to the tone of this passage? a. the use of figurative language creates a feeling of resentment. b. the phrase "hot, angry tangle" is used sarcastically to create irony. c. the word "parade" is used sarcastically to create a lighthearted mood. d. the parallelism draws attention to the confusion of those returning.