Analysis Of The Song 'When The Levee Breaks'

460 Words1 Page

The song “When the Levee Breaks” was originally written by Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie in 1929, and then Led Zepplin adopted it in their album Led Zeppelin IV. The song was about The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. During the time it was said that African-Americans were held at gunpoint to repair the the levee. Due to this many African Americans were left with nothing and had to travel to the North in search of a better life. So the meaning of the song is a retailing of that and the emotions of an african american during that time. The narrator is someone who is worried over the levee breaking, and he is also African American. The lyrics “When the levee breaks I'll have no place to stay.” prove he’s anticipating it breaking. And “All last night sat on the levee and moaned,” correlates to him as being African American because they were forced to work on the levee. The tone is mournful since this man is worried about losing everything he has and he can’t even go to his family or home because he’s forced to work on the levee. …show more content…

It has some Rhyme, for example “Lord mean old levee taught me to weep and moan Got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home”. “If it keeps on rainin' levee's goin' to break, If it keeps on rainin' levee's goin' to break” is an example of repetition. The only sample of alliteration would be “make a mountain man”, and there is no onomatopoeia. There isn’t much of a vivid image other than “When you're tryin' to find your way home, You don't know which way to go?” showing that it’s so flooded you can easily get lost. The only personification is calling the levee mean. There are no similes or

Show More
Related

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of John M. Barry's Rising Tide

    505 Words  | 2 Pages

    Contemporary writer, John M Barry, in his passage from Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America, seeks to communicate the extraordinarily perplexing river that has a life of it’s own. Barry illustrates the incomprehensibility and lifelikeness of the Mississippi, and how that makes it so alluring, by establishing it as far superior to all other rivers.

    Read More

  • The Beginning Of The Song That Diverts The Heart Summary

    772 Words  | 2 Pages

    The alliteration used is to emphasize rhythm in the poem. On the other hand, the poet also depicts a certain rhyme scheme across each stanza. For example, the first stanza has a rhyme scheme of this manner a, b, c, d, e, a. With this, the rhyme scheme depicted is an irregular manner. Hence, the poem does not have a regular rhythm. Moreover, the poet uses a specific deign of consonance, which is present in the poem (Ahmed & Ayesha, p. 11). The poet also uses the assonance style depicted in the seventh stanza, “Seven whole days I have not seen my beloved.” The letter ‘o’ has been repeated to create rhythm and to show despair in the poem. On the second last line of the seventh stanza, the poet uses the style of consonance, “If I hug her, she’ll drive illness from me. By this, the letter ‘l’ is repeated across the line. The poet’s aim of using this style of Consonance is to establish rhythm in the poem and add aural

    Read More

  • Analyzing Holden's Song 'Welcome To The Black Parade'

    616 Words  | 2 Pages

    This song is essentially about how teenagers are mean. Holden sees everyone as a phony, and this song essentially describes his views on other people. There is the line “You’re never gonna fit in much, kid.” This is Holden in a nutshell because he doesn’t fit in.

    Read More

  • C. S Lewis Song Analysis

    1228 Words  | 3 Pages

    “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world” (Lewis, 1996). This quote written by C.S Lewis was the base for the songwriter Brooke Fraser to compose the C.S Lewis song. As a case of analysis, it was decided to find the different elements of the music inside this piece. As a result of this analysis, it is necessary to divide the song in five remarkable stanzas.

    Read More

  • Dearly Departed Song Analysis

    468 Words  | 1 Pages

    Shakey Graves (Alejandro Rose-Garcia) is a fast, up and coming performer from Austin, Texas. The single, “Dearly Departed,” from his junior album, And the War Came, was released back in October 2014. This particular song brought a lot of attention to the one man band, highlighting the energy of his performance and the mixture of old country and rock sound.

    Read More

  • Macbeth

    761 Words  | 2 Pages

    Alliteration, or the repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables (The Free Dictionary 2011), is used in the play Macbeth to get an actor’s point across in a powerful and intense fashion.

    Read More

  • Literary Devices In Beowulf

    493 Words  | 1 Pages

    Alliteration is the reoccurring sound of the same beginning letter of multiple words that are close to each other. Alliteration was the literary device that I noticed the most in Beowulf. One example of alliteration in Beowulf is on line 715 “Up from his (Grendel) swampland sliding silently…” This example of alliteration has the repetition of the letter s. Another example of alliteration is on line 1900 “…soldiers half, share shining rings, silver and gold.” The S is also the repeated sound in this alliteration. Alliteration will make phrases easy to remember and will just slide right off your

    Read More

  • Examples Of Alliteration In The Wanderer

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Wanderer fulfills all of the requirements for an Anglo-Saxon Lyric poem by using all of the devices of Anglo-Saxon poem poetry. The Wanderer is an Anglo-Saxon Lyric poem. The word lyric comes from the Greek word Lyre. Stringed musical instrument. Lyric tells of strong, sudden emotion. The first Lyric poems were meant to be sung, poets used to sing them. Now Lyric poetry is meant to be read. Lyric poetry is a short poem that reveals a speaker's feelings, emotions, mode, state of mind, expressions, thoughts, and attitude. The devices of Anglo-Saxon poetry are caesurae , homiletic passage, mutability theme, stoicism, ubi sunt, kennings, and alliteration. The Wanderer uses all of these devices to fulfill all the requirements of an Anglo-Saxon Lyric Poem,

    Read More

  • She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron

    890 Words  | 2 Pages

    There is a spectacular use of assonance in the first verse here:- look at the rime words night, skies, bright, eyes ... same vowel throughout ... so the whole stanza rimes ababab but assonates aaaaaa this kind of double-effect was highly prized by keats, shelley and Byron, all of whom took the technical side of writing poetry extrememly seriously.

    Read More

  • Analyzing The Song 'Losing Control' By Russ Vitale

    828 Words  | 2 Pages

    Have you ever been in a relationship where the roots ran so deep that you could feel the relationship you and your significant other grew being cut down in your heart when it was finally over? Well, Russ Vitale writes about his past relationship with his ex girlfriend in the song "Losing Control" which explains how his ex is afraid to love again due to the way Russ treated her. Russ produced his first song at the age of 18, and new her wanted to be a rapper so he dropped out of college. Al his songs are self-made, meaning he produces the song, he writes the song, creates the beat for the song, and engineers the song. He started by producing music on Soundcloud and paved his way to fame. However, the fame may be too much for him to handle because the fame was the reason he drifted away from his ex girlfriend. Through figurative language, Russ addresses to his ex how she must allow herself to love again, creating a tone of remorse. His song is significant and powerful because it highlights how love and destruction are two sides of the same coin.

    Read More

  • The Negro Speaks of Rivers

    554 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hughes emphasizes his message consistently throughout this poem, weaving in the most important line in the middle and end of the poem. He is representing his people. African Americans have waited and been abused by society, and this deepened and weathered their souls over time, just as a river would become deepened and weathered. Hughes’ soul, the collective soul of African Americans, has become “deep like the rivers” (5). This simile speaks that the rivers are part of the body, and contribute to this immortality that Hughes is so desperate to achieve for his people. Rivers are the earthly symbols of eternity: deep, constant, mystifying.

    Read More

  • Richard Cory Essay

    544 Words  | 2 Pages

    Assonance, or the repetition of vowel sound is used throughout the poem in order to emphasis Cory's’ popularity. For example, Arlington uses the words “ down, town, and crown” all within the first stanza

    Read More

  • Use of Poetic Devices in Two Love Poems

    970 Words  | 2 Pages

    Relief,” Millay used a similar form of imagery to describe the rain that resulted in the remembrance of the persona’s love: “…I miss him in the weeping of the rain…” (Millay, 3). This description of the rain not only helped better visualize the rain itself, but also emphasized the sorrowful and desolate undertone of the poem. Another exemplification of visual imagery utilized in Millay’s poem was used to illustrate the tides: “…I want him at the shrinking of the tide…” (Millay, 4). The retreating of the tides was easily concei...

    Read More

  • Symbolism in The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    In “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”, the river stands as a symbol of endlessness, geographical awareness, and the epitome of the human soul. Hughes uses the literary elements of repetition and simile to paint the river as a symbol of timelessness. This is evident in the first two lines of the poem. Hughes introduces this timeless symbol, stating, “I've known rivers: I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins” (Hughes 1-2). These opening lines of the poem identifies that the rivers Hughes is speaking about are older than the existence of human life. This indicates the rivers’ qualities of knowledge, permanence, and the ability to endure all. Humans associate “age” with these traits and the longevity of a river makes it a force to be reckoned with. The use of a simile in the line of the poem is to prompt the audience that this is truly a contrast between that ancient wisdom, strength, and determination of the river and the same qualities that characterize a human being. The imagery portrayed in the poem of blood flowing through human veins like a river flows ...

    Read More

  • Ballad Of The Landlord By Langston Hughes

    1038 Words  | 3 Pages

    The entire poem focuses on the social problems historically faced by African Americans and the call for social justice back then. The tenant calls for the landlord to do something about the problems that he previously reported. His “roof has sprung a leak” and his “steps are broken down.” It is the stand off between the landlord and tenant who says he won’t pay another dime until the landlord “fixes this house up new,” that gets to the heart of the problem and struggle – the struggle of the poor. With the tenants’ threats of non payment come threats from the landlord to put the tenant and his belongings out on the street or cut off the services to his apartment. If that doesn’t work the landlord always has the law on his side to evict the tenant and have him arrested and historically this would be an accurate and true statement. It is Langston’s final statement regarding the landlord being “high and mighty” and above the law that lets the reader know exactly how things were. As a response the tenant states, “You ain’t gonna be able to say a word, If I land my fist on you,” is a sort of call to arms against the landlord and what he is trying to do to his tenant. All signs point to a stand off that historically would’ve never happened. An African American man would never challenge a white man in the 1920’s and

    Read More

More about Analysis Of The Song 'When The Levee Breaks'

Open Document