The song I chose for analysis is Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin. I have
looked over the lyrics of the songs and come to the conclusion that the song is
about the Apocalypse. It is about how people would react if they knew that the
world was about to end. I have broken down the meanings in almost every verse,
which I will show later on in this assignment. The mood of the song is slow and
depressing during the time in which they are waiting for the end to come. By the
end of the song it gets faster and livelier to show happiness and hope. The song
had several poetic devises such as internal rhyme, onomatopoeia, and most
importantly metaphors. The only onomatopoeia was the word humming which was used
once and is also a metaphor. The internal rhymes were one that sounded like
rhymes when sung. “When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all
closed”, “And it’s whispered that soon if we all call the tune”, “And
a new day will dawn for those who stand long”, “Your head is humming and
won’t go, in case you don’t know”, and the last being “Dear lady, can
you hear the wind blow, and did you know.” The most important poetic devise in
the song was the metaphors. My idea of the message in the song was based on the
following metaphors. There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold.
People who think all that glitters is gold are fools. So this lady is a fool to
think she can buy her way in to heaven. There’s a sign on the wall but she
wants to be sure/ ‘Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings. / In a
tree by the brook, there’s a songbird who sings, / Sometimes all our thoughts
are misgiven. The two meanings are telling you about the metaphors used in the
song. With the bird singing by the brook the first thing people think is that
the bird is at peace, but animals sense trouble and when the bird panics it
sounds like singing. This proves how our thoughts are misgiven. There’s a
feeling I get when I look to the west, / And my spirit is crying for leaving. /
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees, / And the voices of
those standing looking. The feeling is loss of hope because he’s watching the
sun go down in the west, the end will come at sundown. His spirit is crying
because he has lost hope. The smoke through the trees is the world being
destroyed and the voices of those who stand looking shows that nobody can do
anything but watch. And it’s whispered that soon if we all call the tune/ Then
the piper will lead us to reason. / And a new day will dawn for those who stand
long/ And the forests will echo with laughter. The Piper represents Sin. The
Pied Piper, who led children to their deaths is the metaphor used here. The
piper or Sin will lead them to their deaths. The tune is the meaning of life. A
new day will dawn for those who stand long, means those who don’t follow
temptation will see a new day come, and their happiness is the laughter echoing
through the forest. If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed
now, / It’s just a spring clean for the May queen. / Yes, there are two paths
you can go by, but in the long run/ There’s still time to change the road
you’re on. The spring clean for the May queen is the end coming and cleaning
the human race off the face of the earth. The two paths are temptation and
righteousness and in the long run if you take temptation you can still change to
the way of god. Your head is humming and won’t go, in case you don’t know, /
The piper’s calling you to join him, / Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow,
and did you know/ Your stairway lies on the whispering wind. The humming is the
wind and the lady who is trying to buy her way to heaven, hears the wind blow.
The wind represents her chances of getting into heaven being blown away, her
stairway is blown away with the wind. And as we wind on down the road/ Our
shadows taller than our soul. / There walks a lady we all know/ Who shines white
light and wants to show/ How ev’rything still turns to gold. / And if you
listen very hard/ The tune will come to you at last. / When all are one and one
is all/ To be a rock and not to roll. The road is the road of life, and we are
now near its end. The long shadows are from the nearly set sun and being taller
then our souls means we have lost all hope. The lady we all know is hope, and
she shines the white light of heaven. How everything still turns to gold means
that everything turns out all right. The tune will come to you at last means
that now that you’re in heaven you know the meaning of life. When all are one
and one is all shows togetherness, how everyone now works together. And finally
to be a rock means to be steadfast, and not to roll means not to waiver from
your convictions. I thought Stairway to Heaven was a great choice because the
whole song is a metaphor, open to interpretation. If you read the lyrics, not
knowing it was a song I believe most would agree it is a great free verse poem.
This song opened my mind. Before this project I had trouble getting metaphors,
and just from listening carefully to the words, the metaphors just became so
easy to pick out.