How do I Write a Song Analysis Essay?
A good song is like poetry put to music, making it more difficult to analyze than some people might think. A song is full of literary devices and figurative language, and music adds another layer of meaning. When writing an essay about a song, you can’t pay attention to the lyrics alone. The melody played along with the words can modify the meaning, since the language of music can also deliver a message. Listen to the song a few times. Without thinking too much about stylistic specifics yet, write down how the song affects you. Decide how it makes you feel, and try to discern a central theme or message. Get a printout of the song lyrics so you can scrutinize them more closely. Scour the words for literary devices, and consider how their use affects the meaning and feel of the song. For example, consonance (repetition of consonant sounds, especially after a stressed vowel) can make a line of poetry sound harsher to the ear. A songwriter might use it in a song lyric to communicate frustr
