“Let Her Go” is a song written and recorded by Michael David Rosenberg popularly known as Passenger, an English Singer-songwriter and musician. The song was released in July 2012, and its recording features Stu Larsen, Georgia Mooney, Cameron Undy, Glenn Wilson and Stu Hunter. “Let Her Go” is the second single in his fourth album, All the Little Lights. The lyrics of this song are poetically describing occasions where an individual fails to appreciate what he or she has until it is gone. The song addresses a heartbroken man trying to come into terms with his breakup. This essay aims at addressing poetic components such as alliteration, hyperbole, metaphor and personification used by Passenger in his song. It goes further to address the rhyme scheme and other symbolic devices such as imagery.
“Let Her Go” has a chorus repeated five times in the song. The chorus catches the attention of the reader and tells the theme of the whole song in a few lines. The chorus in this song is repetition. Repetition is a literary device repeating the same words or phrases a number of times to make an idea clear and more memorable. In his song, Passenger repeats the phrase, “Only know you've been high when you're feeling low, / Only hate the road when you're missing home, / Only know you love her when you let her go” (4-6). This chorus is repeated five times in the song. On top of the chorus, Passenger uses repetition in other phrases. “You only need the light when it's burning low” (1) is repeated five times in the song. Repetition serves to emphasize a feeling or idea, create rhythm and develop a certain mood in a song. “Let Her Go” assumes a particular rhyme scheme.
A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes portrayed at the end of each line of a poem or song. Rhyme scheme represents the end word structure of a verse or stanza (Packard 26). However, some songs and poems use the same rhyme scheme in every line referred to as monorhyme. The stanzas of this song assume a specific rhyme,
Only know you've been high when you're feeling low (A)
Only hate the road when you're missing home (B)
Only know you love her when you let her go (A)
And you let her go (A) (4-7).
According to the first four stanzas, the song assumes the ABAA scheme, which is a perfect rhyme. The stressed vowel “low”, “go” in the three stanzas are identical. Eleven stanzas of the song are written in triplets, one stanza is written in quatrain and, another is written in sustain. Additionally, the song has an end rhyme that depicts an ending pattern. The chorus ends in “ow” sound. Rhyme is essential in music since it aids memory for recitation and offers a predictable measure. Rhyme also helps to establish the form of the song. The song also employs narration where Rosenberg addresses the failure to appreciate something until it is gone all through the entire song. There is no dialogue in this song. The ballad form of this song is dramatic. The song majorly focuses on the breakup and portray many emotions caused by losing a loved one. The song has a sad and sombre tone. The mood gives a feeling of epiphany setting a moment of sudden realization and revelations. Personification is also evident in this song.
Rosenberg uses personification giving non-human things an attribution of a personal nature. Rosenberg states, “But dreams come slow and they go so fast” (10). In this stanza, dreams are given the human characteristic of walking. Additionally, love has the abstract quality of locomotion where he states that “Cause love comes slow and it goes so fast” (22). Rosenberg describes love, dreams as objects, and gives them an abstract quality of walking and running. This personification serves to make the song more personal to the listener by bringing common things to life (Packard 14). The vivid descriptions given to love and dreams make them more relatable to humans. The artist of this song makes use of alliteration as a literal device.
Alliteration refers to the repetition of consonant sounds in close proximity to others. It also represents beginning a number of words with the same vowel sound (Packard 18). Rosenberg uses alliteration in a number of stanzas. A good example is portrayed in the second stanza of the song, “Only miss the sun when it starts to snow” (2). In this stanza, the “s” sound is repeated thrice. The repetition facilitates a better flow of the lyrics. Alliterative sounds create rhythm and the tone of particular prose. Alliteration can also be associated with a particular connotation. Another device that is well evident in “Let Her Go” is a metaphor. Metaphor refers to the comparison or analogy that is stated to imply a certain object as another (Packard 22). For example, Rosenberg states, “Only hate the road when you're missing home” (5). Rosenberg applies metaphor comparing the road and his home. Here Rosenberg is addressing the fighting and discomfort in the relationship. It is hard for an individual to hate a road when missing home whereas it is the only way to get home. Hyperbole is another device used in this song. Hyperbole is the trope of exaggeration. Rosenberg states, “Everything you touch surely dies” (13). Realistically, things do not die when one touches them. This phrase is meant to grab the listener’s attention and get them thinking.
“Let Her Go” is a song that makes use of many poetic components to convey break up message. The song fits the category of a dramatic lyric poem. The second half of the final chorus includes acoustic guitar and Rosenberg’s vocals making its performance a cappella. In conclusion, the performativity, spoken nature of “Let Her Go” make it more of a poem than a song.
Works Cited
Packard, William. The poet's dictionary: a handbook of prosody and poetic devices. Harper " Row, 1989.
Rosenberg, Michael David. “Let Her Go.” AZlyrics.com. AZlyrics.com, 2012. Web. 8 August 2018 https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/passenger/lethergo.html.
