Themes of love in selected country songs
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34767/HG.2018.08.09Keywords:
country music, country songs, lyrics, love, macropragmaticsAbstract
The objectiective of the following paper is to identify the poetic and rhetoric devices of country songs about love, nostalgia and the road. Although the analysis has been made on a small sample (around 25 songs), it has revealed that songs about emotions use a direct language without the use of complex literary devices. Country poets reflect their emotionality and sensations resulting from relationships by using the colloquial language and a few epithets,because the task of the authors is not to surprise and amaze the recipient, but to tell a storyin a clear and expressive way or manifest the emotions that tear his heart. Such message from the artist, sent to the people who listen to it, affect their emotions and behavior. The paper discusses the tools of literary, poetic and narrative analysis used in country songs about love. I have decided to analyze the chosen songs and classify them according to selected figures of speech used in their lyrics, as well as to their stylistic features. Each theme analyzed in this charter suggests that country music is simple so that its lyrics can be understood by everyone. Country listeners can compare the song’s meaning and story to their own lives and experience. These songs are good illustrations of the Southern state of mind and Southerners can thus be defined upon the ideals of love, nostalgia and road.
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