John Legend Glory Literary Devices

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Glory In the musical world, there is so much that you can learn and take from a song. However, the only way you can understand a song is by picking up the themes that the artist has used to represent in his music. The way that the artist conveys his/her themes, is by the use of different literary devices to strengthen the emotion in which the artist wants to express the themes of his music. An example of artist portraying their emotions through their music, would be the artists Common and John Legend. In their song “Glory” they talk about the three themes of freedom/glory, togetherness, and power in peace, with the help of using simile, ballad, rhyme, anaphora and lyric. Lonnie Lynn Jr., the 44 year-old rapper also known as Common, was born …show more content…

The first line, sung by John Legend, is talking about how they want every person to be treated and looked at the same way no matter what gender or race they are. Until discrimination is inexistent they will not feel satisfied or justified. The second line, sung by Common, has a symbolic meaning, they want to light the way to peace and freedom. For the theme of togetherness, there are several lines in the song that depict the theme. Those lines are, “Selma is now for every man, woman and child,” “No one can win the war individually/It takes the wisdom of the elders and young people's energy” and “Freedom is like religion to us” (AZLyrics). All three lines are sung by Common during his verse and are talking about how all people need to stand up and come together for what they believe and show their dedication towards what they want, in this case, equal rights among African Americans. He also expresses in the second line that there are young people that have new ideas and want to help, but need guidance from the “elders” because they have done it before. The last theme in the song is power in peace, which can go along with the first two themes, in the way that by being in a group and being peaceful it can help lead to freedom. The line that best represents this theme is, “The biggest weapon is to stay peaceful” (AZLyrics). The meaning behind it was that if they would have been violent it would had just made

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