Hi and welcome back to my blog post. My blog is more beautiful then the setting sun. A perfect metaphor to bring me to our project topic, poetic devices. Specifically how we use poetic devices in music to represent our ideas or the ideas of others. I really enjoyed this project and the challenges I faced throughout it, although I’m sad that I missed the first three classes because of the Corona. Let me take you through what I learned and how it even changed my perspective on some music.

When I was stuck at home the one thing I could do was study. In class my piers learned all about different poetic devices and luckily I could do the same at my house. This was where I first appreciated how complex some songs or poems could be. There were so many different literary devices to remember.

 

Just a Few Poetic Devices.

 

All the studying was worth it though because right of the bat I had to do an individual song analysis. I chose the song “Don’t Stop me Now” by Queen. Queen is notorious for using literary devices in his songs so it was a perfect introduction into analyzing for me.

DON’T STOP ME NOW-QUEEN

Queen is one of the most iconic rock bands in history and their songs are still popular and interesting to the younger generation. They are well known for creating songs that use many literary devices which is one of the reasons they are so recognizable. Don’t Stop Me Now is one of my personal favourite songs and after some analysis of the lyrics this song is no exception to my statement above. The first very prominent literary device that is used in this song has to be the simile. Similes can help the audience understand an idea by comparing two unrelated things with like or as. Queen did this throughout most of the song. Some examples are “I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva” or “I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky like a tiger defying the laws of gravity”. Not only do these similes help the audience better understand the meaning of the song (or they should), but they also add some flow or rhythm. By repeating similes back to back and in a very similar format like Queen did with the two examples above, it creates a pattern. Patterns are the basis for rhythm. Metaphors are also used during this song and they go hand in hand with similes. Some examples of the metaphors used are “the world I'll turn it inside out” or “I'm a rocket ship on my way to Mars”. Metaphors play a similar role to similes. They often have deeper meaning or are harder to notice. Queens metaphors are often very descriptive and put images in your head. This helps bring the song to life in your mind which creates a very powerful connection between the song and its audience. These literary devices help me justify Don’t Stop Me Now as a song worthy of representing the ideas that Queen had. Rhythm, Flow and the other poetic devices used often help bring ideas or text to life, and enhance the impact it will have on the audience. I connect to this song not so much through the lyrics. Personally it’s the pace and energy of the song that I relate to. Very up beat and energetic.

My biggest takeaway after receiving feedback from ms. Maxwell and my piers was that I needed to focus less on just the poetic devices and more on the connection I had with the song personally. Taking that all into account let me show you some of my song analysis in my playlist for life.

Eye of the Tiger By Survivor.

I connect to eye of the tiger through my love of sports. This song is not exactly a sports song, but looking through the lens of sports let’s you see it represents them very well. Sentences like, “your passion for glory”(1:12) or “took my chances, went the distance”(0:55) are just a few examples of how the lyrics could be interpreted to represent sports. The song represents how I’m willing to put aspects of my life on hold, and risk my health to succeed in the sports I do. The chorus of the song repeats itself several time throughout the song. This repetition in my eyes is meant to highlight how to succeed or go “straight to the top”(2:35) you have to keep trying again and again. You can’t work for one day to succeed. Some of the metaphors in this song also fit well into the lens of sports. “The last known survivor” is a metaphor for the winner or champion, like they survived through each round of completion to finally be the last one remaining.

 

Big Yellow Taxi By Counting Crows

Big yellow taxi is an amazing song about how humans are destroying “paradise” or nature. As I grew up in British Columbia nature is another important aspect of my life. I view climate change and the destruction of the environment as a very real threat to my world and this song represents those viewpoints I have beautifully. “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot”(0:13) clearly represents the destruction of habit which is becoming a huge problem where I live. The tone of the song is also very interesting, it’s very calm and a little upbeat. This is a metaphor for the way we as humans are able to tune out the impact climate change or the destruction of the environment is affecting us.

After experimenting with all the different songs and poems that I got to see this project, I have decided that onomatopoeias are my favourite poetic device. I think that they are so unusual and shocking that they can often catch someone’s attention better than any thing else. I decided to use one in my final poem.

So what’s my answer to the driving question, how might we use music to represent ourselves and text? I think we can do this by not only making/listening to music that sounds good but by also adding a deeper mean through the use or understanding of poetic devices. I’m not a huge music person but despite that I still managed to appreciate this project and I think I better understand why some songs were made the way they are. Until next time, good bye.