Pointed questions to help you write your Draft (Due Friday)

Based on yesterday's discussion, I'm posting a list of questions help you analyze your song (and the remix/cover) in your paper.   You don't have to answer all the questions, but consider these questions when you're doing your analysis.

Lyrical Analysis:

1. What is the theme (main idea/topic)? Is there a story it tells? Give specific examples from the lyrics to support your answer.

2. What do you personally think of this song? What was the songwriter(s) trying to communicate?

3. Does the song have any rhyme scheme? If so, what is it?

4. Are the stanzas regular or irregular in length and meter?

5. Are any of the five senses mentioned to evoke certain reactions? Use specific text examples in your answer.

6. Is there any use of the following poetic devices: 
   a) “A winter’s day in a deep and dark December”= alliteration and imageryThe repetition of the “d” sound emphasizes the setting of the song. December and winter bring on feelings of being cold. Cold often makes people think of sadness or lack of emotion, which reflect the speaker’s feelings. Darkness, the opposite of light or hope, makes the reader feel depressed.
   b) “silent shroud of snow”=alliteration and metaphorThe “s” sound repeated here brings attention to these lines that present a haunting image. A shroud is a cloth that is used to cover corpses before burial. By metaphorically referring to the snow as a “shroud” instead of the more common metaphor “blanket” the speaker is presenting the reader with a more depressing death-like comparison.
   c) “I have my books and my poetry to protect me. I am shielded in my armor.”= metaphor
    Books and poetry are metaphorically compared to armor because they “protect” the speaker by “shielding” him from the reality of his loneliness and transporting him to a happier world of fiction where his troubles do not exist. This line suggests that literature is really the speaker’s only source of happiness making him seem extremely lonesome and desolate.
   d) “Don’t talk of love. Though I’ve heard the word before. It’s sleeping in my memory. I won’t disturb the slumber of feelings that have died.”=personification The speaker personifies love, saying that it sleeps in his memory and that it is a feeling that has died. He means that the memory of love is faint, but not currently awake or alive. Later he suggests that he was once in love and that it ended badly (If I never loved, I never would have cried). He does not want to “disturb the slumber” of the feeling because it would only bring him pain if he thought about.
   e) “And a rock feels no pain. And an island never cries”= personification and metaphorThroughout the poem the speaker has metaphorically compared himself to a rock—something tough, firm, unfeeling—and an island—something that is independent of others. These last lines, which personify the objects, help to explain why the speaker would make those comparisons. Unlike the speaker, these objects have never experienced pain or sadness. The speaker wishes he were these objects so that he would not have to suffer the pain he has gone through in his friendships (“friendship causes pain”) and romantic relationships (“If I never loved I never would have cried”). 
   
   
   ____
   
   Music Analysis: Dynamics:
   
   
   Dynamics are the variations in loudness and softness in music. They are strongly
   connected to the music’s emotional effect. Most music, whether a short phrase or a long work, has
   “dynamic shape”. For example, a song which starts soft and changes to loud by the end, has a
   different shape than a song which starts loud and ends soft.
    
   Things to consider when you're looking at Music Dynamics: 
   1) Is the piece generally loud or soft? Does it have a great deal of variety?
   2) Are there times when one part needs to be louder than than the other parts? Where
   and why?
   3) How are the dynamics as marked in the music related to the meaning of the text? How
   do the different variations of the songs change the meaning of the text (consider our Michael Jackson/Chris Cornell Comparison...changing the loudness and emphasis of different points of the song change the meaning)
   
   
   ____
   
   Outside Source Analysis:Artist of song:
   Title of Song: ______________________________________
   Production Notes:
   Year of Production: __________
   Producer/Company: __________
   Lyrics Written By: __________
   Music By: ________ Genre of music: __ Folk ___ Country/Western ___ Rock/Alternative
   ___ Pop ___ Rap/R&B ____ Instrumental ___ Jazz 

1. What format of media is it?
2. What does the media look like? What visuals are attached to this media (CD Cover, mp3 album cover, etc)
3. Does the media artifact convey anything visually?
4. What do you know about the author(s) of the song or the artist? 
5. What is the message that they wish to convey to you?
6. What is going on in society at the time that is reflected in the song? 
7. Who is the intended audience of this work? 
8. What does this song say about the culture that created it and is that an accurate portrayal?
9. How would you classify the genre of this song? Does it cross any boundaries in that genre?