Epilogue

All of the works included in my anthology have nature as a part within them. Some of these were suggestions that I liked and others I have known of for a while. They each use nature to convey feelings and stir emotions. The songs and poems use many literary devices such as personification, irony, foreshadowing, and repetition to get the point across. Wind, fire, water, and trees all of which connect to emotions in different ways. One can be swayed to a decision like the wind. Others can be burning like a fire with fury. Some can be sad or easy to guide like water. Everything around us can be compared to our lives in some sort of way. I like how each of these artist used nature to express their feelings and to even talk about common issues like beauty and one's self-conscience. Each of these works is unique in its own way; however, they all express emotions using nature and the elements found within.

Bloom

“Bloom” by Anna Voelker

I want to tell you
about the sunflower I found
on the sidewalk yesterday.
It is wilting and curled and gorgeous
and knows it.

I want to age like that,
never forgetting my own beauty,
never forgetting how to say bloom.

Analysis:

“Bloom” by Anna Voelker is a short sweet poem with no rhyme scheme. The theme of this poem is how nature can inspire us. It talks about a ‘gorgeous’ ‘wilting’ ‘sunflower’. We love flowers for their beauty even though it doesn’t last long. We are still amazed when we see these flowers wilting because we know the beauty they once have had. Anna uses a metaphor to state that we should think of our own beauty as we do flowers: not to worry about the changing but to embrace yourself at your greatest moment and not to forget it.

Anna Voelker describes the sunflower as “wilting and curled and gorgeous/and knows it” she implies that even though the flower is dying it still thinks that it is ‘gorgeous’. She proceeds to state, “I want to age like that/never forgetting my own beauty/never forgetting how to say bloom”.  Even though naturally we grow old we shouldn’t let that distract us from the life we have. We shouldn’t be overly concerned with imperfections as to miss out on life. She personifies the sunflower because it thinks it’s “gorgeous and knows it”. She then compared the confidence she gave to the flower to that of which she should have in herself.

Source:
https://minniejournal.wordpress.com/2015/04/08/8-inspirational-poems-that-will-warm-your-heart-from-readers-digest/

Peace

“Peace” by Bessie Rayner Parkes

THE steadfast coursing of the stars,
The waves that ripple to the shore,
The vigorous trees which year by year
Spread upwards more and more;

The jewel forming in the mine,
The snow that falls so soft and light,
The rising and the setting sun,
The growing glooms of night;

All natural things both live and move
In natural peace that is their own;
Only in our disordered life
Almost is she unknown.

She is not rest, nor sleep, nor death;
Order and motion ever stand
To carry out her firm behests
As guards at her right hand.

And something of her living force 
Fashions the lips when Christians say
To Him Whose strength sustains the world,
"Give us Thy Peace, we pray!"

Analysis:

“Peace” by Bessie Rayner Parkes starts out on a calm and peaceful note describing nature and how it grows. The theme of this poem is to slow down and enjoy life. Nature itself has many things to offer and we as humans are always up to something. We rush and hardly relax, yet we hope to achieve a peace of our own.

“Peace” the title of this work is also the subject matter of the poem. Bessie talks about how nature acts on its own, “THE steadfast coursing of the stars,/The waves that ripple to the shore,/The vigorous tress which year by year/Spread upwards more and more;”. All of these things have peace because they are not caught up over living their life. They are at peace in a simple way. “Only in our disordered life/Almost is she unknown”, she personifies the feeling of peace and says because we have such chaotic lives we don’t have that peace. Peace is not ‘rest’, ‘sleep’, or ‘death’ it is living and enjoying the life we have. Not overlooking the little things and stopping when most would move on.

She uses the peace that nature has within and compares it to the peace not normally found in our lives. As a reader this poem makes me want to spend a day out a cypress gardens. Looking at the flowers, feeding butterflies, and going out on the boat. It makes you want to enjoy the simplicity that nature has to offer.

Source: http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/peace-by-bessie-rayner-parkes

The Road Not Taken

“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Analysis:

“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost describes the choices we make and the effects they will have on us. Choices are made every day for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes we are presented with a choice that may seem so important that we are unsure of which one to choose. The theme of “The Road Not Taken” would be carpe diem: that is when we make a decision on a choice to make the best of it.

In “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost he uses a ‘diverged road’ as a metaphor for making a choice. There is a ‘ABAAB’ rhyme scheme in the stanzas that helps when reading it. In the first stanza he is presented with the “two roads diverged in a yellow wood”, or a decision to make. He then contemplates which way he should go. In the second stanza he chooses the other path, “Because it was grassy and wanted wear;/Though as for that, the passing there/Had worn them really about the same”. Once making his decision he realizes that they were traveled the same and possible hopes one day he will be presented with the same choice again. “Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back”, he starts to wonder if his decision was the best that he could have taken. It ends on an ironic note because he predicts he will tell this story with a ‘sigh’ wondering what the other choice had to offer. However, in his story his choice will seem dignified, because he will say “I took the one less traveled by,/And that has made all the difference.”.

Sometimes the choices we are presented with in life are tough, but life goes on and we must live with the decisions we make. Robert Frost uses nature to express the uncertainty of his decisions because he will never know what the other path had to offer.

Source:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/resources/learning/core-poems/detail/44272
Published: 1916

The Way through the Woods

“The Way through the Woods” by Rudyard Kipling

They shut the road through the woods
Seventy years ago.
Weather and rain have undone it again,
And now you would never know
There was once a road through the woods
Before they planted the trees.
It is underneath the coppice and heath,
And the thin anemones.
Only the keeper sees
That, where the ring-dove broods,
And the badgers roll at ease,
There was once a road through the woods.

Yet, if you enter the woods
Of a summer evening late,
When the night-air cools on the trout-ringed pools
Where the otter whistles his mate,
(They fear not men in the woods,
Because they see so few)
You will hear the beat of a horse’s feet
And the swish of a skirt in the dew,
Steadily cantering through
The misty solitudes,
As though they perfectly knew
The old lost road through the woods.
But there is no road through the woods.

Analysis:

“The Way through the Woods” by Rudyard Kipling shows us the power nature has over man. I chose this poem because I thought it was unique how it gave me reminiscent feelings. I myself have experienced this and it just comes to show that no matter if we tear down nature it will grow back and take over yet again. There was a trail growing up that as I got older the grass grew less on the path that my friends and I would walk. Going back to that trail years later it’s hard for me to believe there was ever a trail through the woods because the grass had regrown and trees took over. The theme of this poem is power of nature over man. Rudyard describes a struggle between mans’ creations and natures power of regrowth.

“The Way through the Woods” is the title of this poem and it also tells us there was once a known way through the woods. “They shut the road through the woods/Seventy years ago/Weather and rain have undone it again,/And now  you would never know/There was once a road through the woods”, this tells us that a lot of time has passed and natural occurrences have undone it again. Weather and rain have an impact on streets and sidewalks and with enough time nature can consume what was once there. Rudyard then tells us this road was here before all of the animals called this area a home. This shows that roads cannot take over nature even if it was completely covered weathering would have caused cracks and regrowth would have started from within if not already covered from grass and vines growing over the road. “The old lost road through the woods./But there is no road through the woods”, this line is ironic because of the fact the road was neither lost nor missing it was just no longer intended for use. Nature had taken over and that road became part of its anew. When this poem was written you could say it was about the industrialization: with everyone moving towards the cities and factories other areas were left for mother nature’s taking.

This poem uses nature and describes how powerful it is for what it is. Normally it gets the short end of the stick but there are many beautiful places created by nature and natural occurances. He discusses this while describing a road that he use to travel before it got shut down.

Source:
http://www.poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/the-way-through-the-woods/
Published: 1910

Pocketful of Sunshine

Pocketful of Sunshine" by Natasha Bedingfield

[Interlude:]

I got a pocket,

Got a pocketful of sunshine

I've got a love and I know that it's all mine

Oh.oh, oh

Do what you want,

But you're never gonna break me,

Sticks and stones are never gonna shake me

Oh, oh, oh

[Chorus:]

Take me away (take me away)

A secret place (a secret place)

A sweet escape (a sweet escape)

Take me away (take me away)

Take me away (take me away

To better days (to better days)

Take me away (take me away)

A hiding place (a hiding place)

[Interlude]

I got pocket,

Got a pocketful of sunshine

I've got a love and I know that it's all mine

Oh, oh, oh

Wish that you could,

But you ain't gonna own me

Do anything you can to control me

Oh, oh, oh

[Chorus]

[Hook:]

There's a place that I go

That nobody knows

Where the rivers flow

And I call it home

And there's no more lies

And the darkness is light

And nobody cries

There's only butterflies

[Chorus x2]

[Chorus]

[Interlude]

The sun is on my side

Take me for a ride

I smile up to the sky

I know I'll be alright

The sun is on my side

Take me for a ride

I smile up to the sky

I know I'll be alright

Analysis:

“Pocketful of Sunshine” by Natasha Bedingfield is a joyful song about a secret place that makes her happy. I chose this song because of the joy it brings upon the listener. To me this song speaks of a happy place within you and when you are there and truly happy no one can take that from you. When listening to this song no matter my mood I am always in a cheerful mood afterwards. The impact this song has on listeners is due to the lyrics and its upbeat tempo. The theme of this song is happiness which is supported throughout the song.

The title of this song “Pocketful of Sunshine” is a symbol for the joy the writer has all on her own. When thinking of sunshine gives the image of a bright happy place and the fact that she has it in her pocket means that it is her own happiness and joy. “There’s a place that I go that nobody knows/Where the rivers flow and I call it home/And there’s no more lies in the darkness there’s light/And nobody cries, there’s only butterflies”. Natasha describes her happy place as an optimist: she is looking at things from the brighter side. Rivers are normally peaceful and relaxing places that people can go and let go of their inhibitions. At the end she personifies the sun and says that it takes her for a ride. This reminds me of the feeling I get when I go to the beach for the first time in the summer: when the sun hits my skin it tingles and brings joy to me because it is warm enough to enjoy it but not hot enough to dread it. Natasha’s strongest emotion expressed through nature is her happiness: her “pocketful of sunshine”.

Sources:
lyrics:
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/natashabedingfield/pocketfulofsunshine.html
video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gte3BoXKwP0
Released: 2008

Earth Song

"Earth Song" by Michael Jackson

What about sunrise?
What about rain?
What about all the things
That you said we were to gain..?.
What about killing fields?
Is there a time?
What about all the things
That you said was yours and mine...?
Did you ever stop to notice
All the blood we've shed before
Did you ever stop to notice
This crying Earth, its weeping shores?

Aaaaaaaaah Oooooooooh
Aaaaaaaaah Oooooooooh

What have we done to the world?
Look what we've done.
What about all the peace,
That you pledge your only son?
What about flowering fields?
Is there a time?
What about all the dreams,
That you said was yours and mine?

Did you ever stop to notice,
All the children dead from war?
Did you ever stop to notice,
This crying Earth its weeping shores?

Aaaaaaaaah Oooooooooh
Aaaaaaaaah Oooooooooh

I used to dream
I used to glance beyond the stars
Now I don't know where we are
Although I know we've drifted far

Aaaaaaaaah Oooooooooh
Aaaaaaaaah Oooooooooh
Aaaaaaaaah Oooooooooh
Aaaaaaaaah Oooooooooh

Hey

what about yesterday
(What about us)
What about the seas
(What about us)
The heavens are falling down
(What about us)
I can't even breathe
(What about us)
What about everything
(What about us)
I given you
(What about us)
What about nature's worth
(ooo, ooo)
It's our planet's womb
(What about us)
What about animals
(What about it)
We've turned kingdoms to dust
(What about us)
What about elephants
(What about us)
Have we lost their trust
(What about us)
What about crying whales
(What about us)
We're ravaging the seas
(What about us)
What about forest trails
(ooo, ooo)
Burnt despite our pleas
(What about us)
What about the holy land
(What about it)
Torn apart by creed
(What about us)
What about the common man
(What about us)
Can't we set him free
(What about us)
What about children dying
(What about us)
Can't you hear them cry
(What about us)
Where did we go wrong
(ooo, ooo)
Someone tell me why
(What about us)
What about baby boy
(What about it)
What about the days
(What about us)
What about all their joy
(What about us)
What about the man
(What about us)
What about the crying man
(What about us)
What about Abraham
(What was us)
What about death again
(ooo, ooo)
Do we give a damn

Aaaaaaaaah Ooooooooh

Analysis:



“Earth Song” by Michael Jackson calls out destructiveness of human kind. It relates to what is going on in today’s world, as we are still growing, building and expanding our horizons. It is particularly effective in showing that our actions have consequences. Everyday more and more is taken and less is put back. He uses rhetoric questions and literary elements to get across the point that our natural resources are deteriorating because of our own actions. This song makes me realize what I have and if I want to keep it that I need to take care of it. This song reminds me of how beautiful nature can be when it hasn’t been affected by human actions: pollution, construction, or anything else that can alter the appearance and habitat.

Michal Jackson personifies many aspects of nature throughout his song to point out how destructive mankind can be. Throughout the song he asks questions to address the issues within his song. It starts off asking “What about sunrise?/What about rain?/What about all the things/That you said we were to gain. . .Did you ever stop to notice/ This crying Earth, its weeping shores?” Thus putting the emphasis on what has happened to nature and how we have strayed from our peace and are starting to destroy our home. Michael Jackson asks, “What is nature’s worth/It’s our planet’s womb”, leading one to conclude nature isn’t worth much if it is not preserved. Our planet’s womb would be the natural resources it provides us, thus if it is being destroyed it is not producing much; therefore, it is not worth much when not in its original state. He uses questions cleverly to point out what we did wrong and asked rhetorical questions about why we didn’t stop it. He ends the song asking, “Do we give a damn” which makes it known that the much worse than what we let it on to be. He talks about animals and how we have lost their trust. Which their trust was most likely lost due to the destruction of their homes and/or sources of food. Michael Jackson uses figurative language to help us realize how the effects of what we are doing can destroy the world we know if we don’t change our ways. He also reinforces his theme through his subject matter. The theme of this song, the destructiveness of human kind, is supported throughout his work by use of personifying nature. He calls out deforestation and overfishing of the seas and alone these things cannot protect themselves only our actions can change the everlasting effects.

Sources:
video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAi3VTSdTxU
lyrics:
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/michaeljackson/earthsong.html
Released: 1995

Into the Ocean

"Into the Ocean" by Blue October

I'm just a normal boy
That sank when I fell overboard
My ship would leave the country
But I'd rather swim ashore
Without a life that's sadly stuck again
Wish I was much more masculine
Maybe then I could learn to swim
Like (fourteen miles away)

Now floating up and down
I spin, colliding into sound
Like whales beneath me diving down
I'm sinking to the bottom of my
Everything that freaks me out
The lighthouse beam has just run out
I'm cold as cold as cold can be
Be

I want to swim away but don't know how
Sometimes it feels just like I'm falling in the ocean
Let the waves up and take me down
Let the hurricane set in motion
Let the rain of what I feel right now come down
Let the rain come down

Where is the coast guard?
I keep looking each direction
For a spotlight give me something
I need something for protection
Maybe flotsam junk will do just fine
The jets; I'm sunk; I'm left behind
I'm treading for my life, believe me
(How can I keep up this breathing?)

Not knowing how to think
I scream aloud, begin to sink
My legs and arms are broken down
With envy for the solid ground
I'm reaching for the life within me
How can one man stop his ending?
I thought of just your face
Relaxed, and floated into space

I want to swim away but don't know how
Sometimes it feels just like I'm falling in the ocean
Let the waves up and take me down
Let the hurricane set in motion
Let the rain of what I feel right now come down
Let the rain come down

Now waking to the sun
I calculate what I had done
Like jumping from the bow, yeah
Just to prove that I knew how, yeah
It's midnight's late reminder of
The loss of her, the one I love
My will to quickly end it all
So thought no end my need to fall

Into the ocean, end it all
Into the ocean, end it all
Into the ocean, end it all
Into the ocean, end it all

Into the ocean (goodbye), end it all (goodbye)
Into the ocean (goodbye), end it all (goodbye)
Into the ocean (goodbye), end it all (goodbye)

 

I want to swim away but don't know how
Sometimes it feels just like I'm falling in the ocean
Let the waves up and take me down
Let the hurricane set in motion
Let the rain of what I feel right now come down
Let the rain come down

Into the ocean (goodbye), end it all (goodbye)
(Into space)
Into the ocean (goodbye), end it all (goodbye)
Into the ocean (goodbye), end it all (goodbye)

Into the ocean (goodbye), end it all (goodbye)
Into the ocean (goodbye), end it all (goodbye)
Into the ocean (goodbye), end it all (goodbye)
(I thought of just your face)
Into the ocean (goodbye), end it all (goodbye)
Into the ocean (goodbye), end it all (goodbye)
Into the ocean (goodbye), end it all (goodbye)
Into the ocean (goodbye), end it all (goodbye)

Analysis:

I chose “Into The Ocean” by Blue October because it is about someone struggling to get past a major life event. Most everyone has experienced the loss of someone that they love, but some people grieve differently than others. I also like how he expresses his feelings and emotions using a storm and the ocean.

The songwriter uses similes to describe how he is feeling through the song. The songwriter is slipping into a depression: “Like whales beneath me diving down/I’m sinking to the bottom of my/Everything that freaks me out”. He is slipping into this depression faster than expected comparing it to whales diving in the ocean. The ocean in this song symbolizes two things his death and how easy it can be and the depression and how overwhelming it can be. The songwriter uses, "I want to swim away but don’t know how/Sometimes it feels just like I’m falling in the ocean", as a metaphor to describe how the depression is taking over and beginning his thoughts of suicide. He asks the question “How can one man stop his ending?” and answered it, “I thought of just you face/Relaxed, and floated into space”. This solidifies that the song is about a woman, possible his wife because in the music video there is an empty seat that is marked ‘reserved for my wife’.  It shows even loss can make you strong because now you can see yourself living for the person that you lost. He personifies his feelings as rain because there is so much emotion going on in his head. “I want to swim away but don’t know how/Sometimes it feels just like I’m falling in the ocean/Let the waves up and take me down/Let the hurricane set in motion/Let the rain of what I feel right now come down/Let the rain come down/Into the ocean (goodbye), end it all (goodbye)” The last verse is the songwriter contemplating suicide by jumping off a boat into the ocean. “Into the ocean” is repeated throughout the song and is also the title of the song. The title is especially meaningful because it symbolizes his death and how simple it can be. Hence his saying “Into the ocean (goodbye), end it all (goodbye).

This song speaks to me as a listener who has lost so many loved ones and friends so early in my life. It reminds me never to forget them. It also gives me the sense that I am stronger because I have not forgotten them nor have I slipped so deep into a depression as to contemplate suicide. The theme of this song is that there is more to life than death.

Sources:
video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZES3nJQYJok
lyrics:
https://play.google.com/music/preview/T45sbrywv5idpj3ldeffslkgccm?lyrics=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=lyrics&pcampaignid=kp-lyrics
Released: 2006

The Thunder Rolls

“The Thunder Rolls” by Garth Brooks

Three thirty in the morning
Not a soul insight
The city's lookin' like a ghost town
On a moonless summer night

Raindrops on the windshield
There's a storm moving in He's headin' back from somewhere
That he never should have been
And the thunder rolls
And the thunder rolls

Every light is burnin'
In a house across town
She's pacin' by the telephone
In her faded flannel gown
Askin' for miracle
Hopin' she's not right
Prayin' it's the weather
That's kept him out all night
And the thunder rolls
And the thunder rolls
The thunder rolls
And the lightnin' strikes
Another love grows cold
On a sleepless night
As the storm blows on
Out of control
Deep in her heart
The thunder rolls

She's waitin' by the window
When he pulls into the drive
She rushes out to hold him
Thankful he's alive
But on the wind and rain
A strange new perfume blows
And the lightnin' flashes in her eyes
And he knows that she knows
And the thunder rolls
And the thunder rolls

The thunder rolls
And the lightnin' strikes
Another love grows cold
On a sleepless night
As the storm blows on
Out of control
Deep in her heart
The thunder rolls

[3rd Verse:]
She runs back down the hallway
To the bedroom door
She reaches for the pistol Kept in the dresser drawer
Tells the lady in the mirror
He won't do this again
Cause tonight will be the last time
She'll wonder where he's been

 Analysis:

I chose this poem because of the tale and the fact that I like the song. This song is about a woman who figures out that her man is cheating on a stormy night then when it happens again she promises herself it will be the last time because she will shoot herself rather than worry about a cheating man. This song makes it possible to relate what is going through a person’s mind when they know they are being cheated on. It shows how much worrying can break you down. This song questions the theme: two wrongs don’t make a right. No matter how much you heart it should never cost your life.



Garth Brooks writes this song in third person omniscient meaning we know what both of the characters are thinking in the song. “The thunder rolls” is repeated thought the song to symbolize how upsetting what the man is doing is to the woman and that she knows what is going on. The woman in the song waits anxiously for her significant other to return home to her, while trying to convince herself that what the weather is what has kept him out all night. The male counterpart knows that what he is doing is wrong but lets the female worry about him during the nights and the storms. However, the wind from the storm causes her to get a whiff of perfume that was not hers, and then she knows what he has been up too. “The thunder rolls/And the lightnin’ strikes/Another love grows cold/On a sleepless night/As the storm blows on/Out of control/Deep in her heart/The thunder rolls”, many elements of nature are made into metaphors for what he is doing and how she is feeling. The storm is a metaphor for her man being out so late cheating, the thunder rolls is the upsetting feeling that she has, and cold love is because they are becoming more distant because of his bad habit. Many elements of nature are used to figuratively explain how she is feeling. She’s hurt, alone and sees her only way out as taking her life, so she can’t experience the hurt of worrying about someone that is out cheating.

source:
video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdsJI8Wc2D4
lyrics:
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/garthbrooks/thethunderrolls.html
Released: 1990

Blown Away

“Blown Away” by Carrie Underwood

Dry lightning cracks across the skies

Those storm clouds gather in her eyes
Her daddy was a mean old mister
Mama was an angel in the ground
The weather man called for a twister
She prayed blow it down

There's not enough rain in Oklahoma
To wash the sins out of that house
There's not enough wind in Oklahoma
To rip the nails out of the past

 

Shatter every window 'til it's all blown away,
Every brick, every board, every slamming door blown away
'Til there's nothing left standing, nothing left of yesterday
Every tear-soaked whiskey memory blown away,
Blown away

She heard those sirens screaming out
Her daddy laid there passed out on the couch
She locked herself in the cellar
Listened to the screaming of the wind
Some people call it taking shelter
She called it sweet revenge

Shatter every window 'til it's all blown away,
Every brick, every board, every slamming door blown away
'Til there's nothing left standing, nothing left of yesterday
Every tear-soaked whiskey memory blown away,
Blown away

There's not enough rain in Oklahoma
To wash the sins out of that house
There's not enough wind in Oklahoma
To rip the nails out of the past

Shatter every window 'til it's all blown away (blown away)
Every brick, every board, every slamming door blown away (blown away)
'Til there's nothing left standing, nothing left of yesterday (blown away)
Every tear-soaked whiskey memory blown away,

Blown away, blown away, blown away, blown away, blown away

Analysis:

I chose this song because of the tale it tells and because I like quite a few of Carrie Underwood’s songs. This song is sung in third person limited. It is told from the view of a young girl who is dad was an alcoholic. It speaks to me because of what the girl did or did not do to her father: she left him on the couch and locked herself in the storm cellar. Abuse and alcoholism in the homes of young kids is not a good thing. These kids are forced to witness horrible things that can happen to the best of us. I grew up around domestic violence and people who suffered from alcoholism, even though it is not the same circumstances it is nice to hear a song that relates to my situation. Sometimes people who continually make bad decisions drive the ones around them to want to be rid of them. Carrie Underwood uses figurative language to reinforce the theme: that actions are forgiven not forgotten.



The song starts off, “Her daddy was a mean old mister/Mama was an angel in the ground/The weather man called for a twister/She prayed blow it down”, this immediately lets us know things at this girl’s home are not okay. She states “There’s not enough rain in Oklahoma/To wash the sins out of that house/There’s not enough wind in Oklahoma/To rip the nails out of the past” which is personifies rain and wind. The fact that there is not enough rain suggest that what she is going through is not just physical its mental and emotional as well. Also, the fact that there is not enough wind to rip the nails out suggest that what she went through is something so bad she cannot erase. “Every tear soaked whiskey memory blown away/Blown away”, reinforces the fact she is not happy at home: her father had a drinking problem and laid passed out on the couch during the twister. She wants them to be gone. “Blown away” is repeated many times throughout the song and is also the name of the song to me I thing it symbolizes her freedom. Her father being blown away meant that she didn’t have to do anything and his alcoholism only played part in this happening. The ironic part is that if he wasn’t an alcoholic maybe the girl in the story would have woke him or better yet he would have awoke to the alarms instead of being in an alcohol induced sleep. Her use of “blown away”, like that of wind which is yet another part of nature, foreshadows the death of her father in the twister.

Source:
video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJgoHgpsb9I
lyrics:
https://play.google.com/music/preview/Tjtcncb7x6lnuddv44m6urray2i?lyrics=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=lyrics&pcampaignid=kp-lyrics
Released: 2012