ANALYSIS OF OTHER WRITERS’ POEMS/LYRICS



ANALYSIS OF SONG LYRICS (“Language,” by Suzanne Vega)

(Note: I have not included line numbers with my textual evidence; you need to include the line numbers.)

Meaning: This poem expresses the inadequacy of language to express thoughts, emotion, and experience. “If language were liquid” the poet writes, “it would be rushing in” (in other words, the words would come quickly and easily); instead, words are “too solid” and “don’t move fast enough” to express emotion and to capture the complexities of experience and memory. Ironically, silence is “more eloquent/than any word/could ever be” because we can just “be” when we’re not distracted by words. Therefore, more powerful than language is memory, through which we can explore and experience encounters in “timeless, placeless” places where “the river” and “the sun” and “the spaces” can communicate to us in nonverbal ways. The poet vows to never “use words again” because “they don’t mean/what I meant/they don’t say/what I said” and are therefore open to misinterpretation. In addition, thoughts and feelings are fleeting, nuanced, and complex; and by the time we find the right words to capture our thoughts and experiences, they are already “gone.” The poet’s frustration with the inadequacy of language is expressed in the last stanza, where she states that words capture only “the crust of the meaning/with realms underneath/never touched, never stirred, never even moved through.” Her overall theme is that experience, memory, and emotion “speak more truths” than language ever will.

Sound: The poet uses alliteration (language/liquid), assonance (if/liquid/it/in/instead), and repetition (and is gone).

Language: The lyrics contain several examples of figurative language (liquid language—metaphor; words moving—personification; the blur in the brain—metaphor; silence rushing in—personification; crust of the meaning—metaphor; and realms underneath—metaphor).

Form: As the lyrics are thoughtful, ruminative, and personal, the music mirrors the lyrics by being melodic, pleasant, and moderate in tempo—perfect qualities for the listener’s contemplation. The poem is written in free verse and has three stanzas, but there is no regular line length, stanza length, meter, or rhyme scheme.

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