Almost everyone loves music, whether it’s popular songs on the Top 40 list, RAP and hip-hop, country, golden oldies, or classical. However, not many people stop to analyze the song’s lyrics and realize that songs are really poems set to music. Over the course, students will study the theme of a song and study the idea of a concept album, when an artist made an entire album around a central theme. They will also learn about figurative language and analyze the lyrics of a song to find the figurative language devices used throughout the song and how that improves the lyrics. They’ll compare songs and poems and with similar themes to see how songs can be just as meaningful and powerful. Students will look into the controversy caused when Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in Literature for songwriting and the debate it caused on whether songs counted as literature. Students will learn about the different parts of a song, including verses, chorus, bridge, and then practice writing their own. And finally, the students will create a soundtrack to their own life, writing an essay explaining why they chose those songs and their overall theme.

Week one: Learn about the different types of figurative language devices and then dissect songs from some of today’s top artists to see how they use them to write Top 40 hits. 

Week two: Learn about the powerful lyrics of songs about how that can express a theme. Listen to the music of John Lennon, Taylor Swift, and Adele to find the message they are trying to give with their songs and analyze the theme. Then students will learn about the parts of a song (verses, chorus, and bridge) and try to write their own song.

Week three: Compare song lyrics with poems that have similar themes to see if adding music can have a stronger impact to the message using the rap of Tupac Shakur and the poetry of Langston Hughes. Students will share the songs they wrote from the previous week during the class discussion.

Week four: The Nobel Prize in Literature caused a lot of controversy in 2016 when they gave the prize to Bob Dylan for his songwriting. Many believed songwriting didn’t count as literature, others were glad it was finally being recognized as such. Students will study the issue, then participate in a debate during the class discussion.

Week five: Students will create a personal playlist of songs for themselves around a central theme in their life. During our final class they will present their playlist.