Analysis of the Song Another Brick in the Wall Paper Example

Introduction

The lyrics of the song features a trochaic metre because the verses are starting with a rhythmic pattern, as demonstrated by the first four lines of the two parts of the song. As would be the expectation, letter 's' symbolizes an emphasized syllable while 'w' stands for an unstressed syllable. According to Simpson 2004, the emphasis is required to point out that the difference in the use of strong and weak syllables is not absolute, but is relative. According to the song, line (1a) of part 1 and line 5 of part 2, these two lines feature trochaic pattern in the form of metre as illustrated below:

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(4)

| daddy's | flown a | cross the | ocean |

s w s w s w s w

| leaving | just a | memo | ry |

s w s w s w s

a | snapshot | in the | family | album |

w s w s w s w s w

| daddy | what else | did you | leave for | me

s w s w s w s w s

(5)

| we don't | need no | edu | cation |

s w s w s w s w

| we don't | need no |thought con | trol |

s w s w s w s

no | dark sar | casm | in the | classroom |

w s w s w s w s w

| teachers | leave them | kids a | lone |

s w s w s w s

The words that begin in line three of every sequence, that is letter (a) in (4) and the word 'no' in (5) are both offbeat, which is a musical term meaning a beat that is not stressed, and does not form part of the main syllables of a lyrical language. These two offbeat beats have been placed just before the main part of the line's beat. An illustration of the musical notation in line 6 of the song, 'No dark sarcasm in the classroom' (3c). As seen, word boundaries do not occur in coincidence with metrical boundaries, and this is a common characteristic that is found in poetic and lyrical structures. In a line that opens part one of the song, 'Another brick in the wall,' this mismatch in the wording and sounding is vividly illustrated in the word 'across' (Ghorbanpour 2016). Further, the title itself also features this sounding and wording mismatch in the use of the word 'another' in lines 3f and 3g; the word has been split off in rhythm: 'All in all you're just a...nother brick in the wall' (Biesen 2009).

Rhyme

Patterns of rhyme, the lyrics of the song do not show exact rhyme in detail, not at least at the endpoints of the lines. However, the type of rhyming patterns that are featured in this song is internal and approximate rhyme (Ghorbanpour 2016). An example of these types of rhyme is as shown in the lines below.

But in the town, it was well known (2g)

When they got home at night (2h)

Their fat and psychopathic wives (2i)

Would thrash them within inches of their lives (2j) (Biesen 2009).

These two pairs of words (town, known) demonstrate internal rhyme while (got, night) shows partial rhyme. Exact rhyme has been shown by the words (wives, lives) at the end of the last two lines of the excerpt of the song above (Ghorbanpour 2016). Also, in the lines below, 'All in all...' features internal rhyme, according to the hook lines from part one of the song Another Brick in the Wall.

All in all it was just a brick in the wall

All in all it was all just bricks in the wall (Biesen 2009)

Figurative language

Metaphors

The central theme of the song revolves around a feeling of isolation and abandonment from the society. This is depicted metaphorically through the use of the 'wall' to show the isolation from the society. The selected lines below represent the obstacles in the person's life whereby each barrier makes a brick in his growing wall of societal isolation.

All in all it was just a brick in the wall (1f) [it: daddy's departure]

All in all it was all just bricks in the wall (1g) [it: daddy's departure]

All in all it's just another brick in the wall (3f) [it: teachers' mistreatment]

All in all you're just another brick in the wall (3g) [you: teachers] (Biesen 2009)

Irony

The songwriter has employed irony to deliver his meaning to his audience. In a line that introduces the part 2 of the song Another Brick in the Wall, that is 'we don't need no education; We don't need no thought control,' constitutes irony (Ghorbanpour 2016).

Moreover, the interlude title 'The happiest days of our lives' depicts another instant where irony has been used. This is because the content of the whole song does not describe the happy days in his life (Ghorbanpour 2016).

Meaning of the song

Pink, the main character is facing abandonment and societal isolation. Pink is also overwhelmed by the troubles he was facing in his life and hence starts to create a mental wall that isolates him from his world around. Each barrier he comes across in his life adds an extra brick the wall of isolation that was ever-growing (Ghorbanpour 2016).

History of the artist and the song

Pink Floyd was a band that originated from Britain established in the mid-'60s constituting college students in London.

The song Another Brick in the Wall describes a boy named Pink who lost his father during World War II. Pink continues to meet life barriers after his father left him. He undergoes mistreatment in school from the teachers, psychological barriers from his overprotective mother, his marriage breakdown. All of the challenges result to the self-imposed isolation from his society, that is metaphorically demonstrated by a wall that separates him from the world around him (Biesen 2009).

Works Cited

Ghorbanpour, Amir. "We Don't Need No Education: A Stylistic Analysis Of Pink Floyd's 'Another Brick In The Wall'". Academia.Edu, 2016, https://www.academia.edu/26928851/We_Don_t_Need_No_Education_A_Stylistic_Analysis_of_Pink_Floyd_s_Another_Brick_in_the_Wall_. Accessed 29 Jan 2019.

Van Biesen, Wim, Francis Verbeke, and Raymond Vanholder. "We don't need no education.... (Pink Floyd, The Wall) Multidisciplinary predialysis education programmes: pass or fail?." (2009): 3277-3279.