Pop and Poetry

Extended Metaphors
 Learning Objective
To analyse pop songs as if they were poetry.
Targeting Assessment Objectives AO1 and AO2

Success Criteria
• To identify what might make a text ‘poetic’.
• To recognise poetic qualities in song lyrics.
• To analyse and evaluate song lyrics.
 Poetic Thoughts
‘The first poets didn’t come out of a classroom. Poetry began
when somebody walked out of a cave and looked up at the sky
with wonder and said, “Ahhh.” That was the first poem.’
Lucille Clifton

‘Poetry, like music, is to be heard.’ Basil Bunting

‘Poetry’s like a huge multi-coloured marquee that has room for

all kinds of forms and voices.’ Vicki Feaver

Pause for Thought

What do each of these quotations tell Could a pop song be
us about poetry? considered a poem?
Why/why not?
 Figurative Language
One of the distinguishing features of poetry is its reliance on figurative language.

Key Terms Figurative language and imagery are

Figurative language
extends meaning beyond the
literal; it is to a writer what a
paintbrush is to an artist.
good ‘catch-all’ terms for anything
that creates a vivid picture in the
reader or listener’s mind. However
there are also distinct techniques that
you should know.

Can you give a definition and/or an example of these techniques?

Simile Metaphor Personification Hyperbole

Draws a Draws a Making an Exaggeration
comparison comparison by inanimate object used for
between one suggesting one seem human. emphasis or
thing and thing is effect.
another using the something else.
words ‘like’ or ‘as’.
 Extended Metaphors
Key Terms Metaphors can be stretched across an
An extended metaphor is a entire text, be it a poem, book, film or
metaphorical idea that is song. For example, in Animal Farm
stretched across more than George Orwell uses the farmyard as a
one sentence. metaphor for the grubby world of politics.

What is the common theme of these Play Shuffle …

songs (and many others besides)?
Perfect – Ed Sheeran
Love Song would probably be the
Rather Be – Clean Bandit
generic title for most pop hits. To
avoid being boring, songwriters have In My Feelings – Drake
had to find more imaginative (and
poetic) ways to describe love and Hello – Adele
relationships. That’s where extended White Ferrari – Frank Ocean
metaphors come in.
 Under My Umbrella
It hopefully won’t come as a shock to you to learn that Rihanna’s mega-hit
Umbrella isn’t really about an umbrella. It’s metaphorical, but what’s it a
metaphor for?

What do you think the following lines symbolise?

‘When the sun shines, we shine together’

‘Now that it’s raining more than ever’

‘You can stand under my umbrella’

Looking at the lyrics, how many examples of figurative language are you
able to find?

Extension: Identify any other devices that make the song poetic, e.g. rhyme,
meter, alliteration, form and structure.
 Pop Analysis
Write an analytical paragraph on the use of an extended metaphor in
Umbrella.

The song uses the extended metaphor of an umbrella to depict…

The line … shows that …

This is effective because…

The songwriters have also used … to …

 Final Thoughts
Pause for Thought
Could Umbrella be
considered a poem?
Why/why not?

If you could choose one pop song to appear

as the unseen poem in your GCSE exam,
what would it be and why?