Today my topic will be analyzing the poetic merit of The Show Must Go On, written by Roger Taylor, Freddie Mercury, John Deacon, and Brian May; performed by the band “Queen”. The song has poetic merit because of three main points; being end rhymes, couplets, and oxymorons, among with other poetic elements. All of which will be explained with quotes and textual evidence. My first claim is that this song has poetic merit because of end rhyme. End rhyme is when the end of two or more lines’ last words rhyme to others in the stanza. This is most commonly seen in pattern often described as ABAB form, along with many other types that vary between the type of poem or stanza. In The Show Must Go On, you can discover that many lines, along with most stanzas, have a form of end rhyme. For example: “Empty spaces.”, “What are we living for?” , “Abandoned places.” , “I guess we know the score.” In this we can gather that the end words “spaces” and “places” rhyme, as well as “for” and “score”. In this stanza, we can analyze an undeniable ABAB pattern in this stanza. …show more content…
A couplet is comparable to an end rhymes patterns. Instead of a “free style” pattern, where at least one line must rhyme with another, couplets must rhyme back-to-back in AA pattern. This is the only structure a couplet must have, otherwise, they can be in any ornamentation as long as two of the same “letters” follow one another. To clarify, they could be AABB, ABBA, ABCCA, and many other, near infinite compositions. As an example from the lyrics’ chorus: ‘...heart is breaking.”, “...may be flaking.” Here we can discern that breaking and flaking both rhyme and are at the end of their lines, being a sequential in
A writer’s choice of nouns and verbs alters the feel and meaning of a poem. A prime expel of this fact is in the Crowder Collage literature book, on page even hundred seventy-three, more topics for writing, number two. I chose the poem “When the Time’s Toxins,” by Christian Wiman, for the exercise.
In the first passage, Mackey draws out the nuances of this problem by directing two characters to argue over the meaning of a particular musical piece. He focuses on the style rather than the content of the dispute, suggesting that its value lies in the graceful unfolding of the argument itself. In the subsequent passage, N.’s lecture on “The Creaking of the Word” uses metaphor in such a way as to highlight the explosive possibility of words and music to transmit meaning.
Everett, Nicholas From The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-century Poetry in English. Ed. Ian Hamiltong. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994. Copyright 1994 by Oxford University Press.
Brooks employs more than one rhyming device. She exercises end rhyme in the poem. Brooks’ words rhyme at the end of each sentence. Often in rhymes, the sentence ends with the rhyming word, but not here. The poem’s sentences end in the middle of the line, because Brooks chose to create a metrical pause or caesura. The repetition of “We” at the end, helps to keep the audience focus on the gang. Brooks applies internal rhyme before the end. “We / Sing in. We / Thin gin” (5-6) shows internal rhyme. The gang is proud and boasting about their lives. This conjures up visions of the boys bad choices, but it also helps you see the connection in the lines.
The poet uses her intelligence and royal position to express her disgust towards covetous subjects in an argument that displays solid logos, pathos, and ethos aspects. Queen Elizabeth makes harsh emotional appeals through her use of imagery and language. Paired with beautiful poetic language and solid logic is the voice of a powerful queen struggling to cement her position as ruler of her loyal subjects. It is the well-developed, concise arguments and persuasive tools that make “The Doubt of Future Foes” as harrowing today as it was during Elizabeth’s reign.
In the first stanza he used alliteration when he used the words cuffs, cans and crunch. In the third stanza the poet uses alliteration on ‘g’. He also uses rhythmic echo in ‘hands’, ‘bones’ and ‘lungs’ in the second stanza. Repetition and assonance is also used in the second stanza. Sound pattern has been used in the fifth stanza.
Merwin's magisterial control of lyric syntax and narrative order give the reader no difficulty; they are able to understand his work since it flows free from form ("Boston Review" 1). "The consistency, the inclusive and transforming vitality of the work makes it the crowning achievement of Merwin's long and extremely diversified career" ("Boston Review" 1).
Rhyme-The last words of line one and line three of each stanza rhyme. The last words of line two and line four of each stanza also rhyme. The rhyming words contribute to the rhythm and flow of the poem.
Strand, Mark and Evan Boland. The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms. New
Poetry and Drama. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 9nd ed. New York: Longman, 2005. Pgs 389-392
Throughout the poem there are clearly defined rhyme changes, the poem goes backwards and forwards from aabb to abab.
“We knew he’d begun” (Guest, 12) is a line containing a common “e” sound, which helps emphasize the importance of listening to one’s personal decisions. Next, lines with internal rhyme, such as “with a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin”, contain intertwined consonance to draw attention to the meaning of the entire line. The reoccurring “n” sound puts prominence on the cheerful spirit that the character maintains after experiencing a lack of support. Another example of consonance is in the line “it couldn’t be done”. This common “t” sound appears in the title and many lines throughout the poem to show the little impact that these diminishing words had on the main character. The word “chuckle” is an example of onomatopoeia, which adds interest and a dynamic energy to the poem. It also contributes to the dialogue and the art of story telling in the first stanza.
Overall the images representing the speakers past give the idea that its not easy for the speaker to face his destiny alone. The fourteen line sonnet is constructed of three quatrains and one couplet. With the organization of the poem, Shakespeare works out a different idea in each of the three quatrains as he writes the sonnet to lend itself naturally. Each of the quatrain contains a pair of images that create one universal idea in the quatrain.
The poetic conventions used by this poet include two half-lines in each verse, separated by a caesura or pause. The half-lines are joined by the oral stressing of alliterative words in the half-lines, both consonants and vowels (Tharaud 34). “At least one of the two stressed words in the first half-line, and usually both of them, begin with the same sound as the first stressed word of the second half-line” (Donaldson 67). When a word was stressed in the first half-line, its alliterative counterpart was stressed in the following half-line; the words could either complement each other, like holy/heaven or sin/enemy, or they could contrast each other like happy/wretched or warm/winter.
Preminger, Alex and T.V. Brogan eds. The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Princeton: PUP, 1993.