Songs: "Bob"

"Bob" by Weird Al Yankovik
{a great example of palindromes (every line), although this song also has internal rhyming and rhyming}

I, man, am regal - a German am I
Never odd or even
If I had a hi-fi
Madam, I'm Adam
Too hot to hoot
No lemons, no melon
Too bad I hid a boot
Lisa Bonet ate no basil
Warsaw was raw
Was it a car or a cat I saw?

Rise to vote, sir
Do geese see God?
"Do nine men interpret?" "Nine men," I nod
Rats live on no evil star
Won't lovers revolt now?
Race fast, safe car
Pa's a sap
Ma is as selfless as I am
May a moody baby doom a yam?

Ah, Satan sees Natasha
No devil lived on
Lonely Tylenol
Not a banana baton
No "x" in "Nixon"
O, stone, be not so
O Geronimo, no minor ego
"Naomi," I moan
"A Toyota's a Toyota"
A dog, a panic in a pagoda

Oh no! Don Ho!
Nurse, I spy gypsies - run!
Senile felines
Now I see bees I won
UFO tofu
We panic in a pew
Oozy rat in a sanitary zoo
God! A red nugget! A fat egg under a dog!
Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog

Literary Devices in Songs, Continued

I'm glad we all have a better grasp on repetition (although most of us can't spell it ).

We also seem to get personification -- although we need to remember that a phrase only counts as personification if the action is a "human" action. To say "the sun melts" CANNOT be personification; although the sun cannot really melt, a human can't either. This could be symbolism or a metaphor, depending on how it is used.

Remember, a metaphor is a comparison of two unlike things, saying one is equal to the other (my love is a red, red rose). Similes, however, compare two unlike things using like or as. (my love is like a red, red rose OR my love is as red as a rose).

Irony comes in three packages: verbal, situational, and dramatic. Verbal irony is like sarcasm: saying something and meaning another. Situational irony involves the event itself; what happens is not what is expected to happen. Dramatic irony usually occurs in plays; the audience knows what's happening (or what already happened) but the characters do not.

Now that we've got those four literary devices mastered (or close to it), let's try to find the following ones in song lyrics. Feel free to use children's songs too! If you can't remember what some of these lit devices are, refer to your notes from last semester or visit the links provided on the original post below this one.

• alliteration (read "Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts" -- not for the weak stomachs)
• anthropomorphism (read "Gorilla You're a Desperado" Warren Zevon)
• foreshadowing (read "Frankie and Johnny" or see/listen to a variation by Johnny Cash)
• hyperbole
• imagery
• apostrophe
• onomatopoeia
• oxymoron
• paradox
• allusion (view a really cool flash video for "We Didn't Start the Fire" or read the lyrics)
• palindrome (see or read Weird Al Yankovic's song "Bob")
• anagram (read "Anagram" lyrics by Rush)
• assonance
• cacophony
• consonance
• internal rhyme
• inversion
• rhythm
• rhyme

Another great resource: http://www.thewallflowersweb.com/glossary.htm

http://www.northern.edu/wild/dany/mxthea05/Mt_Lyrics_s03.pdf

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=115