The song is about feeling like you don’t have a voice and not having the strength or courage to stand up for yourself. It’s about letting someone else hold you back. The chorus of the song is very celebratory and is about being heard, being loud like “thunder” and getting through adversity with a fighting spirit. The popularity of this song is testament to how universal this theme is. Most people understand what it’s like to be afraid to speak up, to stand up for yourself, but to be excited for a new start.
The techniques in the poem influence and manipulate the audience to feel a certain way.
The metaphors used give the audience a better internal visualization and understanding of the message. This is shown in the very first verse when Katy sings, “I used to bite my tongue and hold my breath” – these are strong metaphors for keeping silent and feeling like you’re not free to be yourself and speak up in a relationship that has turned toxic. The nature of the metaphors change later in the song. They have a victorious and enlightened tone. This is most evident when she sings, “I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire….you’re gonna hear me roar!” These are metaphors for her newly found “fighting spirit” which influence the audience to visualize a tiger, an animal which we associate with strength and power, and therefore to share the singer’s feelings of victory and strength.
The similes in the poem also work to create a triumphant tone. The first simile in the song is, “Like thunder gonna shake the ground”. This makes the description more vivid because it creates a picture in the audience’s mind of thunder, which is a frightening and loud - exactly what the singer wants to be like. The next simile is, “Now I’m floating like a butterfly” – which is a very different comparison compared with the lion earlier and has a much gentler tone, bringing a sudden softness and peace to the song, reflecting another emotion of the singer and creating a sense of relaxed closure for the audience.
The alliteration and assonance in the song are sound effects that add to the success and catchiness of the chorus’s melody. “I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire,” repeats the vowel sound “i” in words which are near to each other. This creates a sense of unity and connection without hitting the audience over the head with a full rhyme, which can sometimes distract from the meaning. The alliteration is heard in the following line with, “Louder, louder than a lion”. The occurrence of the letter “L” at the beginning of these adjacent words appeals to the audience’s sense of sound. It’s attention grabbing, and the “L” sound creates a feeling of softness and warmth.
The rhyme in the song is quite irregular in the chorus but has a more structured pattern in the second verse. The rhyming scheme reads AABBCCD. The words dust, up, sound, ground, up and enough makes the lines sound connected and complete. At times rhyme can make long songs or poems sound artificial, which may be why this rhyming scheme is abandoned after this verse.
The rhythm in the song is also irregular, with the beats in each line of the first verse differing line to line. This makes the rhythm in this verse slower, adding to the sad tone of this part of the song. However, in the second verse, each line has 8 syllables/beats each. This produces a rhythmic effect, which makes the song sound good and gives it drama and life. This helps to signal to the audience a change in tone. The regular rhythm here, combined with metaphors like “brushing off the dust” move the song forward towards the triumphant chorus, creating anticipation for the audience.
I love the part in the song which says, “I went from zero, to my own hero” because I believe you can’t rely on others for approval. You have to be your own “hero” and find the courage to stand up for yourself when no one else will.
The song is about feeling like you don’t have a voice and not having the strength or courage to stand up for yourself. It’s about letting someone else hold you back. The chorus of the song is very celebratory and is about being heard, being loud like “thunder” and getting through adversity with a fighting spirit. The popularity of this song is testament to how universal this theme is. Most people understand what it’s like to be afraid to speak up, to stand up for yourself, but to be excited for a new start.
The techniques in the poem influence and manipulate the audience to feel a certain way.
The metaphors used give the audience a better internal visualization and understanding of the message. This is shown in the very first verse when Katy sings, “I used to bite my tongue and hold my breath” – these are strong metaphors for keeping silent and feeling like you’re not free to be yourself and speak up in a relationship that has turned toxic. The nature of the metaphors change later in the song. They have a victorious and enlightened tone. This is most evident when she sings, “I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire….you’re gonna hear me roar!” These are metaphors for her newly found “fighting spirit” which influence the audience to visualize a tiger, an animal which we associate with strength and power, and therefore to share the singer’s feelings of victory and strength.
The similes in the poem also work to create a triumphant tone. The first simile in the song is, “Like thunder gonna shake the ground”. This makes the description more vivid because it creates a picture in the audience’s mind of thunder, which is a frightening and loud - exactly what the singer wants to be like. The next simile is, “Now I’m floating like a butterfly” – which is a very different comparison compared with the lion earlier and has a much gentler tone, bringing a sudden softness and peace to the song, reflecting another emotion of the singer and creating a sense of relaxed closure for the audience.
The alliteration and assonance in the song are sound effects that add to the success and catchiness of the chorus’s melody. “I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire,” repeats the vowel sound “i” in words which are near to each other. This creates a sense of unity and connection without hitting the audience over the head with a full rhyme, which can sometimes distract from the meaning. The alliteration is heard in the following line with, “Louder, louder than a lion”. The occurrence of the letter “L” at the beginning of these adjacent words appeals to the audience’s sense of sound. It’s attention grabbing, and the “L” sound creates a feeling of softness and warmth.
The rhyme in the song is quite irregular in the chorus but has a more structured pattern in the second verse. The rhyming scheme reads AABBCCD. The words dust, up, sound, ground, up and enough makes the lines sound connected and complete. At times rhyme can make long songs or poems sound artificial, which may be why this rhyming scheme is abandoned after this verse.
The rhythm in the song is also irregular, with the beats in each line of the first verse differing line to line. This makes the rhythm in this verse slower, adding to the sad tone of this part of the song. However, in the second verse, each line has 8 syllables/beats each. This produces a rhythmic effect, which makes the song sound good and gives it drama and life. This helps to signal to the audience a change in tone. The regular rhythm here, combined with metaphors like “brushing off the dust” move the song forward towards the triumphant chorus, creating anticipation for the audience.
I love the part in the song which says, “I went from zero, to my own hero” because I believe you can’t rely on others for approval. You have to be your own “hero” and find the courage to stand up for yourself when no one else will.