Hello All,
I apologize in advance for missing class on Friday. Instead of class, post a second body paragraph for your essay. Be sure to use a clear topic sentence, and make sure your paragraph exhibits syntax variety and has a quote from the song and from Ariadne's Clue.
Ariana Branson
ReplyDeleteThe use of the color black, in the song, portrays darkness, despair, and even sorrow. In the chorus of the song the line, “the pictures have all been washed to black,” (Pearl Jam 1991) demonstrates how affected we become when we lose the one person that we loved. All the memories that they had shared are now tainted and cause sorrow whenever they are thought of. The image conveyed with all the pictures being washed black also signifies that, to the artist, those pictures and the memories associated with them are dead and that they no longer bring light, as they once did. Black is the “colour of the primordial void” and represents the lack of happiness and satisfaction in life, because without happiness our lives are black, and full of despair. (Anthony Stevens. 1998. p.147). Without the love in life there is no hope only despair and sorrow, which is what the artist felt when writing this song.
Rogelio Alvarado
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, another symbol in this song is neighborhood. A neighborhood is a place of unity where people work together individually and as a group to live happy and productively in likewise characteristics. Neighborhoods joined together create cities. It represents where people grow up, meet friends, and live with their families. Stevens’s points out, “A symbol of the self, for all life is there” (p. 24). This is where you look back at one point in life to compare and contrast how things have changed throughout the years to analyze what you have accomplished as a person or region. In this song the neighborhood signifies an area in a city where adults are unemployed; teenagers use drugs plus drop out of school to live an easy life, and where gangs control the streets for public dominance. Lil Rob relates, “Taggin’ up on fences and benches, neighborhood tensions, maddog expressions weapons and possessions whatever you want we can get it, us homeboys got connections” (Lil Rob, 2004). Clearly, in this neighborhood there are no obeyed laws and social disorganization is present, but people are use to living like this in a prideful manner respectively.
The concept of death is easy to grasp but very difficult to deal with. In the song, the artist expresses the hurt of loved ones that death causes at a young age, what she wants done with her body at her time of death: “If I die young, bury me in satin, lay me down on a bed of roses, sink me in the river at dawn, send me away with the words of a love song”. She clearly knows what she wants and it is a beautiful scene to imagine. In the song, the artist expresses anger at dying young but she accepts it. Although she has accepted death, her main concern is her mother: “Lord make me a rainbow, I'll shine down on my mother, She'll know I'm safe with you when she stands under my colors, oh and Life ain't always what you think it ought to be, no ain't even gray, but she buries her baby”. The artist seems to understand the hurt that loved ones experience at the time of death and all she wants is to ease that pain for her mother by telling her that she is still with her. According to Stevens, “The beauty, wonder, and intangible transparency of rainbows, together with their imprecise location, cause them universally to be expressions of divinity, providing a bridge or pathway between Heaven and Earth” (p. 145). By asking to be a rainbow, she is trying the bridge the gap between her and her mother, and allowing her mother to feel some form of comfort knowing her daughter is there when she sees a rainbow.
ReplyDeleteDiala Nimri
Calie
ReplyDeleteThe song mentions different bands and how they tried to achieve fame. The bands trying to achieve fame are like eagles because they are trying to “ascend to the highest places” in their music (Stevens 1998, p. 362). Which is supported in Coe’s song lyrics, “I`d heard The Burritos out in California, could fly higher than The Byrds, Roger McGuinn had a 12 string guitar. It was like nothing I`d ever heard, And The Eagles flew in from the west coast, Like The Byrds they were trying to be free, While in Texas the talk turned to Outlaws, Like Willie and Waylon and me” (1981). Some of the bands that are mentioned in the lyrics chose to ascend to the top like eagles while others chose to become outlaws to reach the top of their success.
Most songwriters talk about in their song about running, escaping, and leaving. Florence and the Machine’s song “Dog Days are Over” make it very clear that they are running away from someone or something; in this case it would be horses. Part of the chorus is ”The horses are coming so you better run.” According to Stevens, horses don’t always have a majestic meaning as many would think, “Horses can thus have a sinister or catastrophic quality, […] four horses symbolizing war, famine, pestilence, and death” (Stevens, p 359). “Dog Days are over” use horses to symbolize death. One needs to start running in order to escape from the incoming horses.
ReplyDeleteAshley Corvera
ReplyDeleteArms are a form of power and protection. In the song the parent’s arms provide a form of protection for the young child. Steven’s suggests “the multiple arms of some Indian gods […] symbolize their omnipresent power” (p. 401). Trees have long limbs that resemble the multiple arms of the Indian gods. The artist conveys that their arms will provide that “omnipresent power” for their child by personifying trees with arms. This power could be understood as a form of protection to a powerless child.
Chika Nwanonenyi
ReplyDeleteAnother archetype the singer uses is the road, which signifies the struggles people experience in life because of issues in their relationships. Hill’s song reveals a woman’s struggle to decide whether she should stay with the man she loves (despite the fact it is unhealthy) or move on. The man this woman loves is not showing her the same “[…] respect and devotion” that he is showered with (Hill, 1998). Instead he is mentally abusing her by making her “[Give] up [her] power [ceasing] being queen” (Hill, 1998).
This woman has taken all hurt and pain she can and she is fed up, yet she remains “Torn and confused” and she still cannot “[…] which path [she] would choose” (Hill, 1998).
Melissa Sherman
ReplyDeleteDonald Wayne Sherman, Jr., a man of few words, considered by those who know him would say his is just an; average, everyday, ordinary, kind of guy, that was raised by humble and Godly parents, with a 1950’s mentality and is exactly who this particular song describes. When the artists wrote this lyrical score, perhaps this man was someone that they conjured up in their collective imagination, as this song could have been written about him personally, as if they knew him and could understand his communication struggles. As the verses are sung by the singers, however the message can also be interpreted another way, in that they also describe mankind’s relationship with deity. The words discuss that if the person listening to the words is in need of a friend for comfort, then look to the speaker, which has never left their side. The words may not always come out in an acceptable manner, but they will always be considered to be truth. When times are rough, and life is difficult to live, don’t give up, for the listener is not going through the difficulties alone. “If you need a friend, don’t look to a stranger, you know in the end, I’ll always be there” (When in Rome, “The Promise, 1988). Stevens indicates in the book “Ariadne’s Clue” that; “The Father archetype personifies as the Elder, the King, the Father in Heaven” and “His word is law” (Steven’s, 1998, p.174.) Feeling as if there is a supreme being that is aware of our needs and knows each person individually, brings comfort during periods of strife for people.
This song uses the archetype of dreams to emphasize darkness, and the inner desires of people. Dreams can be an escape to a world that is out of daily reality. Webber delves deep into the inner desires of his character Christine in the musical
ReplyDeleteThe Phantom of the Opera; the mysterious phantom tells her to “close your eyes” as you escape into an undiscovered world “and surrender to your darkest dreams.” Dreams allow people to explore the desires that can’t be lived out in reality: “It arises from the unconscious dynamics of the self; it is not something that we can induce through conscious exercise of the will”(Stevens p. 65).
Sandra Garcia
ReplyDeleteIn the song, Presley sings “ We’re lost in a cloud with too much rain.” Clouds are often the color grey or black. According to Stevens, the color black is associated with “darkness, death, sickness, and evil.” Presley uses this symbolism to sing about how in this world people are trapped behind all the bad things in their lives, but he dreams of a place that would not have any clouds to trap people in.
Hilda Nieblas
ReplyDeleteHuman beings are excellent at adapting to different situations. However, one thing that is really hard to adapt to is heart break due to love. Believing in love is similar to religious practices. There is a sense of faith and deep belief in this that cannot be broken with anything but heartbreak. It is a want for something so deeply that it indescribable and intangible. In order for someone to love they have to truly devote a big part of themselves to that person. When someone is in love they have opened up the most guarded and fragile part of themselves. Therefore, breaking someone’s heart is taking away something that they truly believed in. That person will have a difficult time getting over what happen and sometimes even fall into depression and even losing their will for life. In the song Jar of Hearts, Christina Perri supports this when she sings “It took so long just to feel alright “, she describes how it was not an easyto be able to be back to normal after loosing so much.
Marco Aguiniga
ReplyDeleteThe journey of life can bring us to enlightenment, troubles, or maybe even nowhere. In the opening line of the song, Eagles sing “On a dark desert highway” (1977). The man in this song is on a road or a voyage to discover something he may never understand. According to Stevens, “[A journey leads] the initiate even closer to the center of all things, the sacred mystery of life, and then out again to the profane world of contemporary reality” (1998, p. 156). Life can be a puzzling because of all the predicaments it can throw at us, but a journey of such can help us discover the realism of all our mistakes.
Maricela I.
ReplyDeleteIn the song “You Belong With Me” by Taylor Swift, she uses dreams as one of her symbols. Dreams can represent how one feels and what they expect from the world. “I’m the one that makes your dreams come true” (Swift). Taylor uses dreams to show that the perfect match can make their partner’s dreams come true, and would do the best to make the person happy. Dreams allow people […] conscious exercise of the will” (Stevens p. 65). Stevens says that dreams are a way to live life that we cannot do in reality. Dreams cannot be handled by us because it happens naturally.
In the song Damian Marley talks about a lot of the bad that takes place in the world. He uses examples about the police abusing their power and the struggle of single parents to show this devastation. This reference to all the depression and devastation felt in society is his way of expressing loss. Anthony Stevens (1998) talks about the symbol of depression stating, “depression […] is an adaptive reaction to loss or deprivation” (p.58). The loss and sense of neglect that Damian Marley tries to convey in this song is symbolic because it incorporates this feeling of depression and devastation that all feel. He uses symbolism to try and reach all listeners not just the ones who can directly relate to the examples. By showing the pain that everyone feels Marley tries to show the importance of making this work a better place and fighting for a peaceful society.
ReplyDeleteThe song begins by giving a sense of comfort and asks a young girl to hang in there “[w]hen [her] world starts to fall” and gives her hope about the future by letting her know she will “soon be free to fly.” According to Stevens (1998), fall or falling “represent loss of social, spiritual or moral status” which is exactly how this song intends to convey its message (p. 418). The song also mentions how reality tends to shatter a girl’s dreams and how “[n]o one ever wants or bothers to explain of the heartache life can bring and what it means.” This may be interpreted as to how change, whether within herself or her surroundings, causes identity struggles when a young girl becomes a woman. As a young girl makes her transition in to womanhood, she will experience depression, which “is subjectively experienced as a ‘loss of soul’, as it is in many other cultures (Stevens, 1998, p. 276). - Zully
ReplyDeleteAshly Anfield
ReplyDeleteThe song mentions fighting unseen enemies. Unseen enemies can be viewed as being demons or the devil. Many Christians believe that we are not in a physical fight against each other, but we are fighting against the powers of darkness. These demons/devil continue to hold people in bondage. I believe that the artist wants her listeners to know that she determined to win against these evil forces. In her lyrics she expresses, “I can’t be defeated, the enemy has gotta flee”. This shows us that she has power over the enemy and she will not lose. According to Anthony Stevens, “Separation of the good from the terrible aspects of the parental archetypes is formalized in religions which allocate good and evil functions to different deities” (Stevens, p. 176, 1998)
Rosa Mendoza
ReplyDeleteRain is one of the most important elements of life on earth. According to Stevens (1998), rain is “The fertilizing agent that descends from heaven-the gift from the gods on which all life depends” (p.145). Without rain the planet wouldn’t be as fruitfully as it is today. The symbol of rain in Justin Bieber’s song signifies the opposite as Stevens interpretation. In Justin's song the rain signifies sadness, hardships, and tears of pain. Justin says, "Cause I know there's sunshine beyond that rain […]" (Bieber, 2010). The sunshine word signifies goodness, while rain signifies sadness. That is why he says that there will be sunshine ones the rain has passed by. This shows that symbols can be adapted to different situations and can have different meanings.
Gonzalo Heredia
ReplyDeleteWhile trying to show the ramifications of one’s mistakes, another symbol the the writer uses is the idea of the deprivation of the sun’s light. In one of the strongest verses of the song, Stapp writes “held captive out from the sun, a sun that shines on only some”(Creed). The sun is a very powerful symbol. According to Stevens, “the sun , like the heavens, is naturally associated with warmth, light, goodness, healing, and everlasting life”(p. 136). Hence, Stapp tries to use the symbolism of the sun of happiness to try to articulate the theme of the sun: due to a person’s mistakes and its consequences, a person can be deprive from happiness and a better life.
The symbol of the ocean often refers to a storm, something overpowering. In his song, Blue October uses the ocean to represent a problem that he is trying to escape: he keeps swimming but the ocean overpowers him. Blue October states, “I want to swim but don’t know how, sometimes it feels like I’m falling in the ocean” (2006) which gives the listener insight of the control that the ocean has over him because the ocean “encircles the whole world […] [it is] the mysterious immensity from which all things arose and all things will return” (Stevens, 1998, p. 113). It is as if the ocean is in complete control, even of ones life.
ReplyDelete-Cristina Elizondo
Amber Gilliam
ReplyDeleteMost people view prison as a place with big walls and scary people who have committed one crime or another. However, there are many different kinds of prisons. People can create their own mentally or they can be trapped in a problem like depression, for some people it can be the business or lifestyle that they live in, like the music industry. The music industry can easily be viewed as a prison by those in it. It has power to create and decimate a person’s career. In the song, they say “‘This could be heaven or this could be hell’” it makes it sound as though the glitz and glamour of fame and fortune may not be all it is perceived as.
Francisco Hernandez
ReplyDeleteAs follow, the word evil is an archetype this song includes, which represents the malign in our lives, but even then, we should not panic because God is with us. Evil is described as “the most dreaded force […] believed to” be capable of “invading a patient and” causes “mental diseases” (276). Wow! This evil is defined as The Evil and is capable of doing any harm desired to anyone. However, Redman “will fear no evil” because his “God is with” him. In the following lyrics, he declares that “if my God is with me whom then shall I fear?” and this lines shows that certainly God will not let us go. Clearly, Redman declares that evil is present in his life, but there is not anyone who can defeat his God. In addition, this archetype lets us know how harmful evil is, but at the same time, not even this evil will defeat our God who is there to hold us.
Nicole Lackey
ReplyDeleteWomack uses the word “heaven” in her song to encourage listeners to maintain hope and believe that some sort of divine being does in fact exist and to instill faith in this divinity. According to Stevens (1998) “Heaven is the ultimate expression of aboveness… and is thus the ultimate expression of transcendence, suprahuman power, and all that is sacred, for it is as high as anyone can reach” (p. 135). The lyrics, “Give the heavens above more than a passing glance, and when you get the chance to sit it out or dance… I hope you dance”, suggest that there is indeed existence of a deity and when times are hard not to just take the easy way out; instead rely on faith to help you through the tough times. Heaven is also “naturally associated with warmth, light, goodness, healing, and everlasting life”; meaning heaven/faith can be a positive and inspiring entity for someone who is feeling the opposite emotions such as: sadness, despair, and depression (Stevens, 1998, pg.136).
Baleria
ReplyDeleteThe song uses the archetype of miles to represent the gap between Delilah and her loved one. Miles is something worthless between the two, the miles between them doesn’t affect the relationship, even though Delilah might feel alone. Steven’s points out, “the path is necessarily difficult and strewn with hazards” (251). They may face struggles being apart, but the distance unites them. The Plain White T’s demonstrate union within the verse, “close your eyes listen to my voice, it’s my disguise I’m by your side”. Miles is just a word when two people love each other.
Bryce Rankins
ReplyDeleteHowever, his friend does not seem to understand the importance of this epiphany, as the friend simply states, “Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, all along.” So the singer requests he stop complaining, as he is “playing a song.” The singer eventually queries, “Would it please you to listen to thunder instead?” (Hawley 2005) According to Stevens, Thunder is viewed almost universally as a symbol of “Awesome power.” Thunder, of course, is the sound that follows lightning, a powerful symbol indeed. For it is with this lightning that the rain can be both empowering and destructive. It is, as Stevens explains it, a “potent combination of fire with water,” that, “carries both positive and negative implications.” (p. 145) Granted, these ubiquitous interpretations of a negative connotation with thunder are apparently ignored in this context at first.
Javier Calderon
ReplyDeleteThe Earth Mother archetype plays the role of a nurturing guide. In the song “Stairway to Heaven”, the guide is symbolized by a lady who is “buying the stairway to heaven”, and thus helping us with our journey. She is the universal quality of spirit that leads us towards enlightenment: “She represents the origins of life as well as personifying the unconscious, the fount of all psychic creativity” (Stevens, 1998, p. 175). She encompasses “timelessness” and is above the “merely human” and mundane; nevertheless, she is committed to our spiritual goal (Stevens, 1998, p.176). As the source of all life, she is the perfect teacher for helping us understand the meaning of our own lives, even if it involves showing us the full scope of her greatness—that just as she grants life, she can also put an end to it.
Joanna Marcial
ReplyDeleteEvanescence is a great artist who sings a song called immortal, which is a perfect interpretation of expressing the feeling of losing someone you love. Evanescence speaks of pain and wounds that don’t go away, and how the memories of that person make it feel like their presence is still there living with her. Some words she uses are a symbolism, not of death, but of loss. Some symbols she uses are heal which according to Stevens many people us healing as an explanation of death as well as of dreams, believing that our souls actually go off and do the things we dream about once we are asleep.(P 276)
Thalia Rios
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately the world today offers us a different view of life, many times everything the world offers begins to take away or faith or makes us stumble in our faith. Additionally, the world also makes us believe that many actions are correct when in reality they can be morally wrong. Such as, falling into peer pressure or starting to think that because everyone is doing it then it should be right. Kuttless states “life is so much more, than what your eyes are seeing, you will find your way if you keep believing,” this quote refers to not having a narrow view about our lives or the world around us. The answers to our problems will not be provided by the world on the contrary the answers to our problems will come when we have faith in God. According to Stevens our eye, “symbolizes consciousness, intelligence, knowledge, and understanding”(p.404), but even though there is consciousness and intelligence this does not mean that we are seeing life the appropriate way and focus on what truly maters instead we are being sucked in by what the world offers.
“I might spend my life upon the road just tryin’ to add to what I know” (9, 10) Living a life that most do not think long term about until forced to. Trying to gain knowledge through his experiences on his road of life, but we obtain something far greater than knowledge and that is wisdom about our Justified True Belief. I liked the way Leadon writes, “Then someday I might settle down and all my friends will be around” (11, 12) his friends are an important part of his life right now, but someday goes back to the idea of tomorrow, because in his mind the sun will continue to rise day after day. The symbol of the “rising sun” demonstrates the youth and freshness of this perspective. He is making life happen as opposed to letting life happen. “I believe in getting what you can and there ain’t no stoppin’ this young man” (15, 16).
ReplyDeleteLauri Slocumb