ANALYZING POEMS AND SONGS
Aldara L贸pez Teijeiro, 4潞A
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TABLE OF CONTENTS -Table of contents................................Page 2 1.Illustrated poem, Cinderella...............Page 3-6 ·Analysis of Cinderella..............Page 7 ·Structure.................................Page 7 ·About Roald Dahl....................Page 7 2.Song, Eyes wide open.........................Page 8 ·Illustration of the song............Page 9 ·Analysis of Eyes Wide Open.....Page 9 ·About Gotye...........................Page 9 -Bibliographical References.................Page 10
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CINDERELLA I guess you think you know this story. (10)A You don't. The real one's much more gory. (10)A The phoney one, the one you know, (8)B was cooked up years and years ago, (8)B and made to sound all soft and sappy (9)C just to keep the children happy. (8)C Mind you, they got the first bit right, (8)D the bit where, in the dead of night, (7)D the Ugly Sisters, jewels and all, (9)E departed for the Palace Ball, (8)E while darling little Cinderella (9)F was locked up in a slimy cellar, (9)F where rats who wanted things to eat, (8)G began to nibble at her feet. (8)G She bellowed 'Help!' and 'Let me out! The Magic Fairy heard her shout. Appearing in a blaze of light, she said: 'My dear, are you all right?' 'All right?' cried Cindy .'Can't you see 'I feel as rotten as can be!' She beat her fist against the wall, and shouted, 'Get me to the Ball! 'There is a Disco at the Palace! 'The rest have gone and I am jealous! 'I want a dress! I want a coach! 'And earrings and a diamond brooch! 'And silver slippers, two of those! 'And lovely nylon panty hose! 'Done up like that I'll guarantee 'The handsome Prince will fall for me!' The Fairy said, 'Hang on a tick.' She gave her wand a mighty flick and quickly, in no time at all, Cindy was at the Palace Ball! It made the Ugly Sisters wince to see her dancing with the Prince. She held him very tight and pressed herself against his manly chest. The Prince himself was turned to pulp, 3
all he could do was gasp and gulp. Then midnight struck. She shouted,'Heck! I've got to run to save my neck!' The Prince cried, 'No! Alas! Alack!' He grabbed her dress to hold her back. As Cindy shouted, 'Let me go!' The dress was ripped from head to toe. She ran out in her underwear, and lost one slipper on the stair. The Prince was on it like a dart, he pressed it to his pounding heart, 'The girl this slipper fits,' he cried, 'Tomorrow morn shall be my bride! I'll visit every house in town 'Until I've tracked the maiden down!' Then rather carelessly, I fear, he placed it on a crate of beer. At once, one of the Ugly Sisters, (The one whose face was blotched with blisters) Sneaked up and grabbed the dainty shoe, and quickly flushed it down the loo. Then in its place she calmly put the slipper from her own left foot. Ah ha, you see, the plot grows thicker, cnd Cindy's luck starts looking sicker. Next day, the Prince went charging down to knock on all the doors in town. In every house, the tension grew. Who was the owner of the shoe? The shoe was long and very wide. (A normal foot got lost inside.) Also it smelled a wee bit icky. (The owner's feet were hot and sticky.) Thousands of eager people came to try it on, but all in vain. Now came the Ugly Sisters' go. One tried it on. The Prince screamed, 'No!' But she screamed, 'Yes! It fits! Whoopee! 'So now you've got to marry me!' 4
The Prince went white from ear to ear. He muttered, 'Let me out of here.' 'Oh no you don't! You made a vow! 'There's no way you can back out now!' 'Off with her head!'The Prince roared back. They chopped it off with one big whack. This pleased the Prince. He smiled and said, 'She's prettier without her head.' Then up came Sister Number Two, who yelled, 'Now I will try the shoe!' 'Try this instead!' the Prince yelled back. He swung his trusty sword and smack her head went crashing to the ground. It bounced a bit and rolled around. In the kitchen, peeling spuds, Cinderella heard the thuds of bouncing heads upon the floor, And poked her own head round the door. 'What's all the racket? 'Cindy cried. 'Mind your own bizz,' the Prince replied. Poor Cindy's heart was torn to shreds. My Prince! she thought. He chops off heads! How could I marry anyone Who does that sort of thing for fun? The Prince cried, 'Who's this dirty slut? 'Off with her nut! Off with her nut!' Just then, all in a blaze of light, The Magic Fairy hove in sight, Her Magic Wand went swoosh and swish! 'Cindy! 'she cried, 'come make a wish! 'Wish anything and have no doubt 'That I will make it come about!' Cindy answered, 'Oh kind Fairy, 'This time I shall be more wary. 'No more Princes, no more money. 'I have had my taste of honey. I'm wishing for a decent man. 'They're hard to find. D'you think you can?' Within a minute, Cinderella Was married to a lovely feller, A simple jam maker by trade, 5
Who sold good home-made marmalade. Their house was filled with smiles and laughter And they were happy ever after. Roald Dahl
I picked this picture because it represents a part of the story, and for me it’s difficult to find an image that represents the whole story, but I think this is the moment that decides the end of the poem, so I thought it was important.
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Analysis of Cinderella: The poem is a version of the popular fairytale Cinderella. The author gives us his own vision of the story by telling us how that story changed in order to make kids feel “happy”. This particular vision of the story, starts just like the real one. Cinderella is exploited by her sisters, and she wants to go to the Palace party. Then the Magic Fairy appears. We start seeing a little bit of a change when the protagonist says that she wants to go to the Palace disco and also when she heats the wall. The character of Cinderella is a very complicated one, because she changes her mind during the poem. She is a little bit superficial at the beginning, when she says that the prince is going to love her if she’s dressed in a beautiful gown, but that behavior can be influenced by her sisters, or even by the society itself. The Magic Fairy attends to Cindy’s prayers; she gives her a beautiful dress and she takes the girl to the Castle. When Cinderella is at the Palace, she dances with the prince, but at midnight she leaves. The boy doesn’t want her to go away so he breaks her dress trying to hold her back. The poor girl, embarassed, runs away and leaves a slipper behind. The next day the prince tries to find the owner of that slipper, when the feet of the ugly sisters fist, he orders someone to cut their head off. Cindy, terrified and angry asks The Magic Fairy to let her marry an honest man. She attends to her petition and guides her to an honorable, good but not too rich man, then Cindy lives happy with the man forevermore. This one is a very ironic poem. For me it criticizes the old princess stories that make little girls think that happiness can only be reached by marrying a man, just because he’s handsome and/or rich. This kind of stories make children grow into superficial people. Roald Dahl also uses humor to get the impact that he wants to. The roles of this story are much more aggressive and realistic than the original story roles. The prince is represented as a violent, selfish and irascible person. Structure In this poem, the author uses a free verse. The rime goes two by two, so the first and second verse, rime between them, and so do the third and the fourth, the fifth and the sixth... The poem is very easy to read, because even if it doesn’t have similar verses, the rime was made in a way that makes the poem easy to be read out loud. This rhythm is a very common one in children’s songs and poems. The poet uses a childish language and colloquial words. About Roald Dahl Roald Dahl was born in Wales, on September 13, 1916. He served in the British Royal Air Force, and he raised to the rank of Wing Commander. He became a bestseller author in the 40’s. He worked for children and adults. He wrote important books like Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory or Matilda.
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EYES WIDE OPEN With our eyes wide open we... So this is the end of the story Everything we had, everything we did Is buried in dust And this dust is all that's left of us And only a few ever worried While the signs were clear They had no idea You just get used to living in fear Or give up When you can't even picture your future We walk the plank with our eyes wide open We walk the plank with our eyes wide open we Yeah we walk the plank with our eyes wide open we Some people offered up answers (questions) We made out like we heard They were only words They didn't add up To a change in the way we were living And the saddest thing Is all of it could have been avoided But it was like to stop consuming's to stop being human And why'd I make a change if you won't? We're all in the same boat Staying afloat for the moment We walk the plank with our eyes wide open And we walk the plank with our eyes wide open we With our eyes wide open we We walk the plank, we walk the plank So that is the end of the story... Gotye 8
Analysis of Eyes Wide Open: This song, for me, is a song that wants to complain about the way we treat the Earth. In this composition, the author gives us a vision of the world after we destroyed it. In that alternative world, there’s nothing but dust, and when humans realized what they were doing, it was too late to change it. Only a few people were actually worried about the problems, everyone was too concentrated on their life to realize what was going on around them. Now the person that is singing says that if we just stopped consuming, like wasting oil, life would exist on earth, but humans are the only creatures that always make the same mistakes, too worried about themselves to see that something’s wrong. People prefered commodity and consumerism, letting things go out of control. The writer also complains about the same idea of “Why should I change my way of VOC living if everyone else won’t?” a very common idea nowadays. The last sentence means that it is the end of human history, of everything we’ve known. About Gotye Wouter "Wally" De Backer, better known as Gotye was born in Belgium, May 21st 1980. He’s a singer and a musician, he plays a lot of instruments (guitar, drums, percussion, keyboards and synthesizer) and he plays indie rock, alternative rock and trip hop. His career began in 2001, in that time he had music as a hobby with his friends while he was studying at Melbourne University. He has published three albums till today: Boardface, Like Drawing Blood and Making Mirrors, the last one is the one that made him an international star. In 2012 his song, Somebody that I used to know, was one of the most listened songs all over the world.
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-Bibliographical References: ·“Gotye”. Wikipedia. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotye> [Consulted: February 28th 2013]. ·“Roald Dahl”. Wikipedia. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Dahl> [Consulted: February 28th 2013]. -Pictures: ·First picture: Aldara López Teijeiro ·Second picture: Caspar David Friederich <http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_x2vBZUXDzVk/THa_kQwxhfI/AAAAAAAACsE/yW7RS5KlKZE/s1600/caspardavid-friedrich-abadia-en-el-robledal-1809.jpg> [Consulted: February 28th 2013].
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