Figurative Language Music Examples

Figurative Language
in Music
Repetition
Music Example
Personification
Music Example
Simile
Music example
"Under my Umbrella" is repeated many times.
Repetition
Personification
The city really doesn't sleep it is just quiet
Simile
Repeating a
word, sound, phrase, or sentence more than one time.
Repetition
Personification
Giving human qualities to
animal, object, or idea.
Is a
comparison
using
like, as,

and synonyms
of those words
Simile
Selena is
comparing
how much she loves whoever and how much she loves love songs.
"I-I love you
like
a love song baby"
Metaphor
A comparison

NOT
using like or as!
It states
that one object is the other
Metaphor
Music example
Metaphor
He is
STATING

that his heart is a stereo
"My hearts a stereo"
Hyperbole
Music Example
Hyperbole
The complete stretching of the truth.
An overstatement or an exaggeration that is used for emphasis.
Hyperbole
Alliteration
Alliteration
Repeating the same sound at the beginning of several words.
Music Example
Alliteration
Rhianna Umbrella
Green Day *Boulevard of broken dreams
Selena Gomez *Love you like a love song
Taio Cruz *Break your heart
DIDDYDIRTYMONEY *Coming Home
Gym Class Heroes *Stereo Hearts
Onomatopoeia
Like a
b
ig
b
ad wolf, I'm
b
orn to
b
e
b
ad and
b
ad
to the
b
one.
Music Example
The Jackson 5 *Rockin' Robin
Onomatopoeia
The use of words that sound like the noises they describe
Tell the world I am coming home
Tell many people not the WHOLE world exaggerating the amount of people.
Says letter
B

words 7 times
They make a bird noises "Tweet Tweet"
(WHACK, BING, SWOOSH, ZIP, SCREECH)
Onomatopoeia
Where the city sleeps
and I am the only one and I walk alone.
Symbolism
Is when an author uses an
object
to
represent
an
idea
.
Symbolism
Symbolism
Music Example
Garth Brooks The Dance
Looking back on the memory of the
dance

we shared...
"The Dance" is a symbol of a life experience.
Allusion
Allusion
An indirect reference to a well known person, place, thing or event.
Music Example
Taylor Swift Love Story
You were Romeo and you were throwing pebbles
and my daddy said, "Stay away from Juliet."
Allusion
Idiom
Music Example
Idiom
Rachel Platten Fight Song
Wrecking Balls inside
my brain
Monsters are not usually beautiful
Idiom
An idiom is a phrase that means something different than its literal meaning

ex. I had cold feet = I was nervous
get a grip = calm down
cry me a river = stop whining
Paradox
A "paradox" is a statement that contradicts
itself, yet often expresses a truth.

ex. "Less is more"
Paradox
You don't know
You don't know you're beautiful
That's what makes you beautiful.
He is singing the song to her telling her she is beautiful, but she doesn't know that she is, but that is what makes her a beautiful person. So does that now make her unbeautiful?
One Direction That's What Makes you Beautiful