POETRY

Compare one song to two poems.  Draw a parallel of theme and tone between the poetry and the music. Illustrate how the theme and tone of the song you chose directly relates to the poetry. Think about the ways in which the poet/ lyricist communicates ideas of theme and in turn this has an intended effect on the reader/listener.   Analyze the lines of each poem. Juxtapose with your analysis of lyrical poetry. This is called close reading. You have the option of using one poem from the text and one poem from outside the text. See poets.org.


In today’s society, we Homo-Sapiens have developed numerous gadgets that seem to be an extension of our very selves. These gadgets such as tablets, cellular phones and many forms of pda and music enabled devices have become a seemingly essential and borderline compulsory personal belonging. These devices help us to do is read and also to listen to music.
However individuals ever so often fail to recognize that contained in music is poetry. The question could be asked why do we write? “We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. Poetry, beauty, romance and love, these are what we stay alive for. The powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?" -Dead Poets Society. This quotation is insightful and self-explanatory. There is significant difference in the comparison of just listening to the instrumental version of music, versus the version that an artist has voiced his/her words/poetry on. An idea is conveyed that evokes feeling and as humans we can in most cases relate to these written word. Many artist have had the entire world singing there poetry. One such artist, Bob Marley is from my native home of Jamaica, and even though he has died many year now, his works have lived on, and the poetry of which still resonates with the people of the world. One song that he has made popular is entitled: I want to love you.

• I wanna love you and treat you right; 
• I wanna love you every day and every night: 
• We'll be together with a roof right over our heads; 
• We'll share the shelter of my single bed; 
• We'll share the same room, yeah! - for Jah provide the bread. 
• Is this love - is this love - is this love - 
• Is this love that I'm feelin'? 

The theme of this song is love, love that humans can identify with, some have found it and some are looking for this indescribable feeling of love. Marley delivers it in a very happy/ joyful tone, this is not a sorrowful, or angry, but of joy, and this is a song that can be used to lift someone’s sorrowful sprit up. He uses the word love over and over again in the song and to me this stresses the importance of love to the human soul, the void it creates when it’s absent and the fulfillment when it’s found.

The theme of love can also be seen in forms of written poetry. The poem To My Dear and Loving Husband by Anne Bradstreet also expresses the theme of love.( To My Dear and Loving Husband) line5 “ I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold.” These are strong words as it depicts that the value placed on love is greater than riches. The tone of this poem is of a joyful tone just like the tone of the above Bob Marley song, a similar feeling is evoked on the readers by the words of both works. Another poem that expresses the theme of love and whose tone is of happiness and joy is: How Do I Love Thee? by Elizabeth Barrett Browning , located on the www.poets.org website. (The first tree lines: )

• How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
• I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
• My soul can reach, when feeling out of sigh

The writers all use profound words to describe the indescribable feeling of how they love. The joy it brings is depicted by all by the use of their similar tone. Lastly rhymes are used in all to make them flow and read/ heard more easily.