“Stormy Weather” was written in 1933 by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler and first performed by Ethel Waters at the Cotton Club in Harlem. This song captures the very essence of the Great Depression time period, which is why it was selected as one of the first two songs to be played on the mixtape. With lyrics such as “life is bare, gloom and misery everywhere” can showcase Stormy Weather as a representation of the turmoil United States citizens were facing. Ethel Waters voice and the melody of the music do a great job of translating the lyrics is such a way that listeners can envision and relate to the pain and heartache the song is portraying.
Not all films which adhere to the classical Hollywood paradigm eschew issues. The film Singin’ in the Rain follows Don Lockwood, a popular silent film actor, as he attempts to maintain his star status during the advent of “talkies”. Lockwood’s journey manifests fame’s capricious temperament, the studio’s commercial interest, and the influence of outside variables on a film. Singin’ in the Rain uses Lockwood’s struggle with celebrity to expose the importance of public image and self esteem.
No storm is experienced the same. Seeing a storm on the horizon has the power to stir up gripping memories, introspective thoughts, and convoluted emotions. The poem “Storm Warnings”, by Adrienne Rich, applies a predictable structure paired with flowing syntax, and ambiguous diction- speaking both of weather and emotions- to illustrate that one cannot avoid the tribulations of life, embodied as the approaching storm, but instead prepare for their arrival.
In the song “ when it rains it pours “ by Luke Combs. He sings about luck and happiness after hardship. In the beginning of the song he sings “And by tuesday you could say that girl was good as gone, And when thursday came around i was all alone” ( When It Rains It Pours). Showing he has lost a girl he loved, which is the hardship. But then later in the
Overcast sky, dark wind, cold light, and gloomy actions are the characteristics and effects of a rainy day. Rain is often the precursor to disaster in a story because of the natural feelings of sadness that it brings. Therefore, it is appropriate that a rain motif should be present in “There Will Come Soft Rains”, written by Ray Bradbury. The rain makes a subtle but important appearance in the story, which allows certain events and objects to express their feelings more adequately in the themes of emptiness and the rising power of technology.
To some, Billy Collins’ The Rain in Portugal may seem to be a collection of random poems that have no correlation. At first sight, an individual may be confused while skimming through this book as to what the poems mean and how they all piece together. The poems in The Rain in Portugal all have one aspect in common; there is no rhyme scheme. Not a single poem rhymes with the next, let alone within itself. By doing this, Collins breaks the normality of basic poem writing—lines having to rhyme with one another—and explores his own take on free verse writing, which leaves the audience to form their own interpretation of the work. Majority of the poems within the book correlate with the speaker either reminiscing back in time, getting lost in the thought of the present, or predicting events of the future, which somehow include his reoccurring feeling of loneliness. Though this book has three different sections, each with its own collection of poems, the theme of loneliness is inserted within each section with one or two poems solely focusing on this topic. As a whole, this book provokes the audience to think and examine more in depth what Collins is attempting to portray through his seemingly simplistic writing.
Summer Rain is a longer poem than most others written by John Foulcher, which has messages throughout it. Summer Rain is set on a highway during a traffic jam, an experience many people have experienced. The start of the poem sets the scene economically, informing the reader that it is 4 o’clock and that the cars “clutter on the highway”. This gives the reader a visual image of peak hour traffic on a highway, so they can now almost see what is going on
But if it rained the story mood would sneak up on Papa. The hiss and tick on the metal of our big living van distracted him from his papers. Rain on a show night was catastrophe. Rain on the road meant talk, which, for Papa, was pure pleasure.
Every song has a story to tell, and some contain hidden stories or lessons, while others are completely blatant. In Billy Joel’s song, “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” he does not hesitate to be very obvious with what he tries to prove, which is how all of the events in his song contribute to one large fire. I chose to remediate Joel’s song because it spoke to me with historical context. When researching the song, I read a majority of the history behind it and decided to reflect upon it in a visual picture collage, combining a majority of the elements he mentions with pictures--all circled around a fire in the middle. I decided to also make red-dyed cupcakes reflecting the fire Joel speaks of and ice them with a flame, yet placing an X over it,
However, the final stanzas of the poem focus more on the future and the good things to come, instead of their previous hardships. When Billie Jo acknowledges her new appreciation for Louise by writing “..wait for Daddy to drive in with Louise, hoping she’ll stay a little later, a little longer, waiting for the day when she stays for good” (227), she is simultaneously making wishes for the time to come and therefore stating that she’s hopeful for what will occur during the rest of her life. Additionally, she is getting used to how her father has changed “and I’m learning, watching Daddy, that you can stay in one place and still grow” (226) and how her family dynamic has changed throughout the storms. When the first person narrator, Billie Jo, personifies a dream “when dreams dry up” (225), she explains the mass loss of hope that she and the others who dealt with the dust bowl experienced during the dangerous drought. It also contributes to the reflective tone witnessed in the beginning of the stanza by addressing the key to their demise. The titles literally represents the methods that the dust bowlers had to use to “find a way to
The poems in this section are about the hardships of life and the problems that people have to face, yet there is an undertone of hope in them too, the problems may not be solved, but the poems show that there is a sense of faith in human resilience.
“Poems are written with the feelings and emotions, with the intuition and the instincts, that make each of us who we are” (Charters 669). Dana Gioia, the author of “Summer Storm 2000” expresses an emotional works to an event dated back 20 years ago. Gioia uses dictions such as, imagery, figures of speech, setting, tone, and ballad to help readers not only comprehend the poem but to help them envision and feel it as if they were the ones experiencing the story. Gioia uses these means as a way of expressing his feelings and thoughts while explain to readers the deeper meaning of what “Summer Storm” really entails.
There are many ways in which one can analyze poems with similarities in subject. However, one of the most effective ways is to analyze the poems use of imagery and figurative language that the author uses to dramatize their subject matter. Three poems which can easily be compared through this method are the songs Roar by Katy Perry, Stronger by Kelly Clarkson, and the poem Breaking Free by Angela Wybrow. These three poems all share a similar topic, which is inner strength. Through this topic, the authors use figurative language and other poetic elements to create a work which centers around the theme of finding inner strength to move on from the pain and hardships caused by people in their life, and to move on and live the life that makes them happy.
This just shows how weather can affect people's moods. At first the storm seemed exciting; getting to leave work and school early sounded like a good thing. However, throughout the day, little things happened that made it no longer be so exciting. And eventually, that excitement was gone and it was replaced by
Before the Rain, filmed on location in the Republic of Macedonia and in London is a trilogy that focuses on the conflict between Muslims and Orthodox Christians in the Balkans. The three chapters of the trilogy are " Words," " Faces" and " Pictures." Director Milcho Manchevski states; " Before the Rain, refers to the feeling of heavy expectation, when the skies are pregnant with the possibility of an outburst, when people are silent, waiting for a tragedy of cleansing"(1).