Most musicians use poetic devices in their music to makes their songs more meaningful. Irony, is used to make people think about the situation that they are singing about, when the opposite of what is expected happens. Imagery is supposed to appeal to your senses, and make you picture scenes. Characterization conveys the thought that the song has different characters that have different feelings. Showing oxymoronic statements in “Funny the Way It Is,” Dave Matthews Band utilizes destructive imagery, straightforward irony and sorrowful characterization to portray contradicting scenarios.

Dave Matthews Band’s song, “Funny the Way It Is,” has a lot of destructive imagery. The singer says, “Someone’s house is burning down on a day like this,” before that, he explains a beautiful sunny day that seems very happy and serene. You can picture the beautiful day and it is quite upsetting to imagine someone going through such horror of their house burning. Another lyric that you can imagine is “A bomb blast brings a building crashing to the floor.” As you listen, you can see the bomb dropping. You can also feel the terror and see the reaction of the bystanders. Dave Matthews Band uses imagery to make you see the destructive and disturbing things that people have to go through.

Musicians use irony to show contradicting scenes is their songs. In “Funny the Way It Is,” Dave Matthews Band has a lot of ironic scenes. Most of the imagery shows these. The lyrics, “On a soldiers last breath, his baby’s being born,” are very ironic because you usually wouldn’t want to associate a father’s death with his baby’s birth. You would think that someone would be very unlucky to have this happen, and that makes this ironic. Another part of the song says “A kid walks 10 miles to school, another’s dropping out,” Those lyrics are very ironic to think about because one child is trying so hard to be a good student, and to get to school, while the other could care less. Also, one the child who dropped out, might have better advantages over the good student, and could easily get to school. There are many ironic scenarios in Dave Matthews Band’s song “Funny the Way It Is”

Through the lyrics, characterization portrays the characters as sorrowful. When the singer says “Somebody’s heart is broken and it becomes your favorite song” it shows characterization because some musician’s best songs come out of troubled relationships. When they go through a heard breakup, they write very meaningful and soulful lyrics, which tend to appeal to many people. Also, “Someone is screaming and crying in the apartment upstairs,” characterizes someone as scared or in pain. It shows that someone could be going through something that is terrorizing to them. Most of the characters in this song seem to be upset, or worried about something.

The song, “Funny the Way It Is” uses a lot of poetic devices and shows specific scenarios to let the listener understand the meaning clearly. The meaning of the song is very ironic, and most of the lyrics are already easy to understand. The poetic devices and lyrics are very concise, and they complement each other very well so the listener understands. Showing oxymoronic statements in “Funny the Way It Is,” Dave Matthews Band utilizes destructive imagery, straightforward irony and sorrowful characterization to portray contradicting scenarios.

In life, people will fall in and out of love very quickly, and one side of the relationship is often left with feelings of longing and regret for what has happened. The band One Direction usually focuses their songs on that theme. They were formed in 2010 on a British talent competition, the X Factor. They each auditioned individually, but due to their talent, appeal, and complimenting voices, the five joined together to form a ban. They didn’t end up winning, but they have been signed to a record label, and are becoming very successful nonetheless with a rapidly growing fan base. In their song, “More Than This,” One Direction utilizes first person point of view, realistic imagery and a desiring mood to portray the heartbreak and sorrow of wanting more than is returned in a relationship.

The first person perspective of the singer helps to tell the story of the song and make it more intimate and relatable. The song was written in the first person point of view. In the lyrics “When I see you on the street, in his arms I get weak,” the singer is saying that he is experiencing this himself. He is telling you a story from his view and what you should think of when you hear it. When you hear this song, you can feel the emotions that the singer is going through from the lyrics. By using the word “you,” instead of the word “she,” it runs on a more personal and relatable level to the listener.

This love song was made to be more romantic by the realistic imagery that takes you into the singer’s emotions. “As I walk up to your door, my head turns to face the floor, ‘cause I can’t look you in the eyes and say,” these lyrics allow you to feel the emotions the singer is going through. They wrote the song so that people could relate to it and understand in personally. That was the reasoning with straight forward, and to the point lyrics, to make it more raw and personal, and so that the listener can create an image in their minds.

The way people feel is usually cause by the emotional actions of those around them. In music, the feelings radiating through the tone and lyrics convey a specific mood. In this song, it is a mood of regret and longing for someone else when you can’t have them. “I’m broken, do you hear me? I’m blinded, ‘cause you are everything I see,” the singer is trying to make you feel his heartbreak. The quote is very personal because it is directly sung with one person in mind. This makes it relatable because listeners can make a connection to others in their own mind. These are the first lyrics of the song, and it sets an unhappy mood from the beginning. When one listens to this song, they get a sense of the singers feelings through the way the singers express the mood in the song.

This song, “More Than This,” uses many poetic devices and specific words so that the listener can understand the meaning more. The song meaning is actually very concise, and the lyrics are saying exactly what they mean. Even though it is very obvious, it is still a great song. That shows how One Direction utilizes first person point of view, realistic imagery and a desiring mood to portray the heartbreak and sorrow of wanting more than is returned in a relationship.