Poetic Devices Found in “Raise Your Glass” by Pink

A great song is not only recognized by its catchy beats and sensational tunes because the lyrics play a significant role to the songs success. Most importantly the lyrics are composed of poetic devices that enhance the song in general. The three poetic devices found in “Raise Your Glass” are repetition, assonance, and paradox. The use of repetition is the most distinct amongst the other devices because it is used throughout the entire song. Phases such as, “Right, Right”, “Come on, Come on” and “Raise your glass” were repeated several times. The composer uses repetition simply to enhance and to try and get a general message stuck inside our heads. The repetition of the phases “comes on, come on” followed by “raise your glass” comes off as a persuasion. The repetition of this line encourages the listeners to “raise your glass”, stating how one should be confident and have their heads held high. The second poetic device is assonance. This is founded in the line “nitty gritty dirty little freak.” The purpose of assonances is to add a sense of continuity and flow. The fluidity of a song is extremely important because a song that is choppy and unconnected wines up with less listeners. The third poetic device found in this song is paradox. “So raise your glass if you are wrong, in all the right ways” is an example of a paradox. This line does not follow logic; therefore it is classified as a paradox because it is contradictory. The twist of logic forces the listeners and readers to dig deeper into the lyrics in order to understand its true meaning. Writers use this poetic device to gain the listeners attention and to focus it on the overall song.