By: Srujana Yalamanchili

“How to Save a Life”

The sound piercing my ear; in a indescribable way,

“Float On”

Lyrics making my heart jump like a jump rope,

“The Freshman”

Guitar solo taking the lead with it’s twang,

“She Has No Time”

Emotions poured into my head,

“For Blue Skies”

Life flashes before my eyes,

Mesmerizing beats, like a bongo drum,

My body swaying like a snake charmed by a snake charmer,

How can such a sound, affect a person’s life,

Such beauty filled inside every note,

Music is like an unfillable ocean,

All the sounds, lyrics, and genres never stop flowing,

Music is my best friend,

When a bad day storms through the door,

When a happy day shines through the window,

Music is my tour guide,

Helps travel and explore my world with me,

Just pop in the buds,

Open the playlist,

And let the music come in like a tornado,

A tornado full of feelings; lively, cheerful, “pick-me-up”,

Because that’s what music does, it helps you feel….

1. The type of poem I published was an ode.
2. I decided to choose this topic for my ode because music is an important part of my life. It’s so important that I don’t know what I would do without it. It’s helped me through some dark days and in a way, also helped my with problems I couldn’t figure out. So this ode for me is like thanking music in a way, for helping me out.
3. I would describe the tone of my poem as compassionate, benevolent, earnest because throughout the whole poem, I am showing how much music helped me and how much affection and how grateful that I have music.
4. I would say the theme of my poem is, music helps you whenever you need it too because by showing some of the specific songs I listen to, I am showing the emotions that come with it and how it helps me feel and get through with life.
5. An example of figurative language in my poem is when I stated,” Music is my best friend.” The type of figurative language this is, is a metaphor. Metaphors contribute to the development of the tone and theme by comparing two subjects with different meanings to show the level of intensity or meaning the specific subject means to the author. Another example of figurative language in my poem is when I stated,” Just pop in the buds.” The type of figurative language this is, is imagery. Imagery contributes to the development of the tone and theme by showing vivid imagination for the readers, so they can, in a way, see what the author is seeing and also feel what the author is feeling and trying to express.
6. I made revisions in this poem by changing “good” to “indescribable” because good is a very general word and I wanted to use a gracenote word and put more of a dramatic word in the stanza so it can affect the readers more. I also revised by switching all my metaphors to go near the end of the poem so that all the imagery and “sounds” can go with the examples of music and what I feel when I listen to those songs so that my poem can be a little organized.
7. I felt it was a little difficult to write this poem, because music for me is very important and I needed to find a way to show that to the readers or even show it in my poem. Having to put a lot of metaphors and similes also made it difficult because I thought it would confuse the reader by all the different comparisons, but I understand know it shows how much important music is to me.
8. I am satisfied with my final draft, because it shows everything I feel about music in just 26 stanzas which is impressive to me. I feel that there is enough imagery and metaphors and similes to show how powerful and significant music is and how appreciative I am that music is in my life.