https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCWnVznnWcs
The band Florence and the Machine use literary elements such as paradox, metaphor, similes, and also figurative language in the song "Shake it out" in order to convey the common theme of overcoming hard times they have faced. A paradox that is repeated throughout the song is “It’s always darkest before the dawn” which is contradictory because darkness is usually referred to when thinking of the night while the dawn is more represented by light. This could also be figurative language because it is literally darkest before the dawn but also it means that everyone, no matter who they are, face hard times before they can overcome them and face the good times. An important simile that adds to the song as a whole is “regrets collect like old friends” which is comparing the collection of regrets that she has to the meeting up of old friends who have lost touch but every so often come back and linger on her mind. “And all of the ghouls come out to play” is a metaphor for the ghouls who are her regrets and bad thoughts that reveal themselves when she has moments of freethinking. Another example of a metaphor is “And every demon wants his pound of flesh” which means that the “demons” which are her thoughts fight to be the one to bother her at a certain moment in time. So all of her pent up thoughts are being brought up when she thinks about them, and it is hard for her to focus on one as they all are on her mind. “I can never leave the past behind” is figurative language because it is saying that she can not leave the past behind which is, if you look at it from a literal view, impossible, but it means that she can not leave what has happened to her in the past and she continues to go back to thinking about it. “Tonight I’m gonna bury that horse in the ground” is a metaphor for the way the speaker is going to finally let go of the bad time or thoughts that she has been holding onto for so long. “It’s hard to dance with a devil on your back so shake him off” which is a metaphor because she is saying that she can’t live her life the way she wants if she has not let go of things that are bringing her down. These poetic elements work towards my theme, of overcoming struggles and leaving the past behind, by showing that the speaker has gone through a harsh time which is usually symbolized by the word “dark” and she overcomes the dark by saying that she has buried it and she is shaking it out.
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