Final copy due: Thursday, January 19th
Please download this PowerPoint for suggestions on how to enhance the following:
- Opening (draws the reader in, signals the theme or topic of the paragraph)
- Transitions (creates unity, flow, and coherence)
- Quotes (proper punctuation, how to integrate into a sentence)
- Word choice (using powerful verbs, more descriptive adjectives, and adverbs to enhance your writing)
Assignment
In this assignment, you will think critically about this genre of poetry by analyzing the way figurative language or poetic devices (i.e. metaphor, personification) are used in songs. Further, you will explain the theme of your song and how it relates to your book.
Assignment Layout:
1. Choose 1 song that relates to your book and possesses rich examples of figurative language.
3. The work you produce will go on a 2-page layout of your magazine. This will include key parts of the lyrics of your song, title and author along with your analysis.
4. Please provide a typed reference list with the following format.
Name of songwriter (last name first). “Song Title.” In Album Title. By name of artist or group. Name of production company. Place of publication: name of publisher, year of publication.
Example:
McLauchlan, Sarah and Peter Marchand. “Building a Mystery.” In Sarah McLauchlan: Surfacing. By Sarah McLaughlan. Tyde Music. Canada: Pierre Marchand, 1997.
- Illustrated Song: On your two-page spread of your magazine include images suggested in the song lyrics. These images can be drawn or computer generated.
- Song Analysis: This needs to be completed for the song that you have chosen.
- Identify the overall theme of the song – what is the author’s message? Avoid clichés and predictable interpretations by trying to dig deeper and drawing out more sophisticated insights. Ensure to develop your ideas and provide examples in the form of at least two quotes from your song to back up your interpretation.
- Identify at least three examples of poetic devices used in the song (alliteration, assonance, cliché, hyperbole, idiom, metaphor, simile, personification, Onomatopoeia). Discuss the effect they have within the song and why the songwriter might have chosen a particular poetic device?
i. How does this poetic device make the song better? For example, what kind of imagery does a particular metaphor create in your mind? How does this draw you into the ‘world’ the song creates? If hyperbole (exaggeration for effect) is used which is not meant to be taken literally, why might the songwriter have chosen this device?
- Write a personal response to the song indicating why you chose it and how it specifically relates to your novel. Your response should be at least one paragraph. Again, ensure to develop your ideas and provide at least two specific supporting details in the form of quotes from your book.
Song lyrics, in many ways, have become the ‘poetry’ of our current society. Lyricists and songwriters express emotions, make statements, promote change, and impact beliefs and value systems with the words they use in their songs.
U2
Desert sky
Dream beneath the desert sky
The rivers run but soon run dry
We need new dreams tonight
Desert rose
Dreamed I saw a desert rose
Dress torn in ribbons and in bows
Like a siren she calls to me
Sleep comes like a drug
In God's Country
Sad eyes, crooked crosses
In God's Country
Set me alight
We'll punch a hole right through the night
Everyday the dreamers die
See what's on the other side
She is liberty
And she comes to rescue me
Hope, faith, her vanity
The greatest gift is gold
Sleep comes like a drug
In God's Country
Sad eyes, crooked crosses
In God's Country
Naked flame
She stands with a naked flame
I stand with the sons of Cain
Burned by the fire of love
Burned by the fire of love
1. Find six examples of poetic devices in this song (i.e., metaphor, simile, personification)
2. What might be one interpretation of the author's meaning? What message might the author be trying to communicate here?
--------------
