Your third essay requires you to analyze a song of your choosing. You will read the lyrics as poetry to explain the song’s main theme (or themes). Your explanation will serve as the paper’s thesis. The rest of your paper will use a critical analysis of the song’s lyrics as well as its sonic elements to support your interpretation of the song’s main theme.
As you consider the song’s theme, focus on what the song means to you personally. How do its themes and insights apply to you? Why does the song speak to you, and how might it speak to others? Think of this as an opportunity for you to share a song you love with someone else. Why should we love it too? What can it say about our shared experiences as human beings?
Don’t get too bogged down in your personal story, though. You want to spend the bulk of your paper analyzing the song’s lyrics as poetry. Show me that you understand the concepts of analysis we’ve covered in class. You will also need to think about the song’s sonic qualities – that is, the music of it. You can discuss the instrumentation and sound or even the singer’s vocal delivery. You must address at least one non-lyrical aspect of the song in your analysis. Listen to the song over and over as you think about it to get beyond the text.
Requirements
Due: 6/21
Length: 2.5 FULL pages (no more than 4), not including the required Works Cited page
Format: MLA format for both in-text citations and works cited entry. Times New Roman, 12-point font, double spaced, 1” margins.
Tips:
Try to avoid songs with over simplistic lyrics. A song with the refrain, “Tonight we’re gonna party, yeah. Party tonight,” might be your jam, but there’s not much poetry to work with there.
Avoid analyzing the song’s music video. Visual analysis is a fantastic skill to have, but your main objective is to demonstrate an ability to analyze poetry.
