Roar

661 Words2 Pages

Roar
There are many songs out there that are outstandingly memorable or catchy, and sometimes they are catchy because of the use of figurative language. Similes, metaphors, onomatopoeias, idioms, and symbolism are just a few writing techniques known as “figurative language,” and that are used in many songs we listen to. Katy Perry’s song “Roar” is a prime example of how an artist uses figurative language in a song.
There are a couple of instances where Perry uses a simile in the song. First, she says “You hear my voice, your hear that sound like thunder, gonna shake the ground” (Perry). This is a simile because she uses the word like, to compare her voice, and the sound to the power of thunder, and that means that she is going to be so loud that no one could ignore her, and everyone would hear her. Then she says, in the fifth stanza, “Now I'm floating like a butterfly, stinging like a bee I earned my stripes” (Perry). This is also a simile because of the comparison with the word like. She compares herself first to the butterfly, saying she floats like one, and could be interpreted as a rebirth. Then to the bee, when saying she earned her stripes and proving her worth. The meaning of these similes are that she finally understands that she has been mistreated, and is going to stand up for her self, not let anyone bring her down, or worry about things anymore.
Next Perry uses a couple metaphors. First, in the fifth stanza right before the pre-chorus she says, “I went from zero, to my own hero” (Perry). This is a metaphor because she compares herself to a scale of zero to hero, which is not literally applicable. This metaphor shows how she started from a weak person and ended up very powerful and extremely confident in herself. Next,...

... middle of paper ...

...ing off the dust” (Perry), symbolizes the time where she finally realized what was happening and started to stand up for herself. The whole song in general could also be a symbol or reference to the older song “Eye of the Tiger” by a band called Survivor. That song was also about defeating someone or something that did you wrong.
Katy Perry uses many forms of figurative language in this song, and probably more than what I listed. Similes, metaphors, onomatopoeias, idioms, and symbolism are just a few types of figurative language used in this song. By the fact that Perry uses figurative language in her song, proves that she is intelligent and also a very good songwriter.

Work Cited
Perry, Katy. Perry. Katy Perry. Bonnie McKee, Dr. Luke, Max Martin, and Cirkut,
2013.Metro Lyrics. Web. 6 Apr. 2014.
katy-perry.html>.

Open Document