Let me be the voice in your strength and your choice
Let me simplify the rhyme just to amplify the noise
Try to amplify the times it, and multiply by six...
Teen million people, Are equal at this high pitch
Maybe we can reach alqueda through my speech
Let the president answer a higher anarchy
Strap him with an Ak-47, let him go, fight his own war
Let him impress daddy that way
No more blood for oil, we got our own battles to fight on our own soil
I love this song by Eminem who happens to be one of my favorite artists. This song screams empowerment, autonomy and liberation. Eminem wrote this song as a form of protest right before the election in 2004 and shortly after the war started. This stanza of the poem is the one i deem most powerful. Eminem is embodying the voice of the nation speaking up for the soldiers on the front line.
Eminem uses a repetitive rhyming scheme. An A,A,A,B,B,B pattern. His flow is also repetitive with his strong emphasis on the final words. He doesn't bother using many metaphors and similes but instead just gets straight to the point. He uses a clever device that breaks up words and sentences that also stress the importance of 16,000,000 people, just for example.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Book of Rhymes #4 Sexual Healing, Marvin Gaye
And honey I know you'll be there to relieve me
The love you give to me will free me
If you don't know the thing you're dealing
Ohh I can tell you, darling, that it's sexual healing
Get up, get up, get up, get up
Let's make love tonight
Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up
'Cos you do it right
I love this song by Marvin Gaye. He tells about how beautiful love can help heal many tribulations that may fall upon someone. Companionship is sometimes the only thing you may need. Although many songs nowadays preach the same thing the descriptions that Gaye uses really help the listener depict and establish an emotional connection to the song, their loved ones, and their future relationships.
The repetition helps the listener replay the visual over and over again of "getting up" and "waking up". This song was rated one of the top in the early 1980's and there is a perfectly good explanation why many still fall in love with it still today because the devices used and the lyrics speak out to any listener of any background.
He uses a unique rhyme scheme that begins at A,A,A, and continues on to an A,B,A,B scheme. He uses slant rhymes and sometimes rhymes words within the same sentence.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Book of Rhymes #3 And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.
Maya Angelou is writing a poem to her "haters". She is describing her experience as a strong black woman. No matter what is thrown her way she will continue to be strong and overcome. The first stanza is describing what most hope she will experience, discouragement, loss of self esteem, and emptiness. She lifts the tone of the poem in the next stanza by stating that she has no care in the world as depicted by the rich.
Angelou uses an A,B,C,B rhyme scheme. It is pleasant sounding and gives the poem a lighter, more playful tone. Her similes are exquisite. "Shoulder falling like teardrops" perfectly depicts to the reader how low the haters want her spirit to be.
When listening to the recording of Maya Angelou reading her own poetry her tone is soft and light. Though she naturally speaks that way, it was more daunting, almost like a laugh in the face of the haters.
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.
Maya Angelou is writing a poem to her "haters". She is describing her experience as a strong black woman. No matter what is thrown her way she will continue to be strong and overcome. The first stanza is describing what most hope she will experience, discouragement, loss of self esteem, and emptiness. She lifts the tone of the poem in the next stanza by stating that she has no care in the world as depicted by the rich.
Angelou uses an A,B,C,B rhyme scheme. It is pleasant sounding and gives the poem a lighter, more playful tone. Her similes are exquisite. "Shoulder falling like teardrops" perfectly depicts to the reader how low the haters want her spirit to be.
When listening to the recording of Maya Angelou reading her own poetry her tone is soft and light. Though she naturally speaks that way, it was more daunting, almost like a laugh in the face of the haters.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Book of Rhymes #2 Do You Believe in Magic by The Lovin' Spoonful
Do you believe in magic in a young girl's heart
How the music can free her, whenever it starts
And it's magic, if the music is groovy
It makes you feel happy like an old-time movie
I'll tell you about the magic, and it'll free your soul
But it's like trying to tell a stranger 'bout rock and roll...
The lyrics of this song suggest that music can free the souls of people who really listen to it. I love this song because although it has a cheerful back beat the lyrics speak out to every music lover all around the world. It is easy to relate to and must have been a party pleaser back in the day,
The A,A, B,B, C,C, D,D rhyme scheme is a common pattern that I tended to notice in many old school songs. If music were going mainstream back in the day it probably would've fit the same criteria. Its short and to the point. I love what the lyrics are suggesting though. Through listening to the above stanza I am visualizing a young girl in a dress jumping up and down to the beat of the music, completely free and liberated from every care in the world.
The flow of the song is very repetitive which is good for memory and impact however not original at all. The instruments used to play the back beats were and are extremely common in music and the lyrics fall slave to the beat, they do not over power. If you mute the music and allow just the lyrics the impact isn't nearly as great.
How the music can free her, whenever it starts
And it's magic, if the music is groovy
It makes you feel happy like an old-time movie
I'll tell you about the magic, and it'll free your soul
But it's like trying to tell a stranger 'bout rock and roll...
The lyrics of this song suggest that music can free the souls of people who really listen to it. I love this song because although it has a cheerful back beat the lyrics speak out to every music lover all around the world. It is easy to relate to and must have been a party pleaser back in the day,
The A,A, B,B, C,C, D,D rhyme scheme is a common pattern that I tended to notice in many old school songs. If music were going mainstream back in the day it probably would've fit the same criteria. Its short and to the point. I love what the lyrics are suggesting though. Through listening to the above stanza I am visualizing a young girl in a dress jumping up and down to the beat of the music, completely free and liberated from every care in the world.
The flow of the song is very repetitive which is good for memory and impact however not original at all. The instruments used to play the back beats were and are extremely common in music and the lyrics fall slave to the beat, they do not over power. If you mute the music and allow just the lyrics the impact isn't nearly as great.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Imitation #1: Pablo Neruda, If you forget me
This poem, like all other Neruda poems is beautiful. Pablo Neruda captures such descriptions that truly allow a vivid painting to be pictured in the readers head. In this poem he is telling the woman he loves that as long as she loves him he will love her back however if:
"you decide
to leave me at the shore
of the heart where I have roots,
remember
that on that day,
at that hour,
I shall lift my arms
and my roots will set off
to seek another land."
"you decide
to leave me at the shore
of the heart where I have roots,
remember
that on that day,
at that hour,
I shall lift my arms
and my roots will set off
to seek another land."
Neruda speaks to an audience with an imagination. He conveys a message that can be said simply in many different ways and uses many different devices. He uses much repetition to make sure the picture and the pain or the happiness is ingrained in the brain of the reader. How can you forget something when it is repeated over and over and it's beautiful at the same time.
The poem almost places you directly in the scene. You begin to either reference past experiences you have had or imagine having lived through those experiences. It is great when a poet can capture not only visual effects of a situation but to have the reader emotionally imitate the feelings the poet felt when they wrote it is a concept that takes years for a poet to master, Neruda makes it look easy.
This poem is wonderful and lyrically genius. Enjoy =)
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