Amanda Paulhus
3/23/11
Making ironic comparisons in his song “Monsoon”, Jack Johnson combines naturalistic hyperbole, personifying imagery, and playful pun in order to share his idea that “time never waits”.
Hyperbole, an exaggeration made for effect, is used often in pieces of music. Jack Johnson utilizes hyperbole that pertains to nature in his song “Monsoon”. Johnson creates hyperbole when he sings “if the moon / can turn the tides it can pull the tears/ and take them from our eyes”. This hyperbole exaggerates how the moons presence changes the tides in saying it can do more; because this is personifying the moon, a piece of nature. Johnson also uses hyperbole as a paradox when he says “focusing on nothing so now everything is clear”; because nothing and everything are contradictory. Jack exaggerates life when he sings “all of life/ is in one drop of the ocean”. In this line he makes a derogatory exaggeration in saying that something as large as “all of life” could be held in something so small as ‘one drop of the ocean”. Though his use of hyperbole is lacking it is still an important aspect of the song.
Imagery is language that evokes sensory images. Johnson combines imagery that pertains to both sight and hearing in his song “Monsoon”. He appeals to ones hearing sense when singing “sonny do you hear the sound” because this causes you to picture either the two people having a conversation or the sound itself. When Johnson uses both hyperbole and personification with “the moon “it creates imagery of “the moon [turning] the tides” and “[pulling] the tears /from our eyes”. These instances also create natural imagery of the ocean and the tides rolling in. Jack creates subtle imagery of someone walking “in amazement stumbling through the day” and this idea of the person seeming to be “waiting to go home”. The imagery throughout the song changes continuously.
The manipulation of words to create clever relationships between language and ideas is wordplay. Pun, a play on words in which multiple interpretations of a given word are possible, is used along with wordplay in Jack Johnson’s song “Monsoon”. Pun and wordplay are used often together. The one pun Johnson uses throughout the song is “monsoon-er” because it sounds as if he were saying soon. Another instance of wordplay is when John sings “show me that there’s more than the mean time”. “Mean time” is a pun because time itself cannot be mean or rude. Though pun is not used all that much in his song, Johnson made a god attempt and the wordplay truly adds to the meaning of his song “monsoon”.
Jack Johnson uses many literary devices in his song “Monsoon” In order to portray his true ideas. Making ironic comparisons in his song “Monsoon”, Jack Johnson combines naturalistic hyperbole, personifying imagery, and playful pun in order to share his idea that “time never waits”.
No comments:
Post a Comment