Meredith Hiltbrand

English 112

Griffin

Section DJ

Figurative Language

Figurative language is used in almost everybody’s vocabulary daily. Most of the songs in my iTunes Library consist of some sort of figurative language. One that has always been a favorite of mine is called I’ve Seen a Love by Edwin McCain. The lyrics consist of many metaphors. McCain compares love and his feelings a lot throughout this song.

The phrase, “I've seen a love that rolls like thunder, I've seen a love that falls like rain” are both metaphors for the love that he has seen. McCain seems to be talking about how his love in his life is not going as well as he had planned.

More metaphors occur as the song proceeds. “And our kind of love it burns like summer, like I'm rolling down some old heartache road.” To be honest, I’m not sure what the first phrase is referring to. I could see it meaning that their love burns so hot meaning it as a negative thing or I could see it as a burning desire, a burning love for one another. I am assuming it is meant it a negative way considering this whole song is about how love isn’t working out for him and his significant other.

Edwin McCain is very famous for two of his songs, I’ll Be and These Are the Moments which both consist of metaphors. McCain, along with many other artists, incorporate many different types of figurative language within their music. Doing so creates an interesting light on the song; a new way of looking at a situation. I believe that the better the figurative language, the better the song will be. Lots of people take great interest in the lyrics. If the lyrics are interesting, unique and/or powerful, the song will most likely be a hit.

"I've Seen A Love"

By Edwin McCain

I've seen a love that rolls like thunder
I've seen a love that falls like rain
That kind of love it makes me wonder
Why my love causes me so much pain

I see my ring as it spins on the table
A perfect circle on the dusty wood
Tells of a life, the love and the laughter
Cries my tears for the times that were good

I've seen a love that rolls like thunder
I've seen a love that falls like rain
That kind of love it makes me wonder
Why my love causes me so much pain

One gets lost, one gets lonely
In another world love remains
That kind of love takes away all your empty
That kind of love takes away all your shame

I've seen a love that rolls like thunder
I've seen a love that falls like rain
That kind of love it makes me wonder
Why my love causes me so much pain

And our kind of love it burns like summer
Like I'm rolling down some old heartache road
And all my running and my demons
Can't seem to lift it
Can't seem to lift that love

I've seen a love that rolls like thunder
I've seen a love that falls like rain
That kind of love it makes me wonder
Why my love causes me pain

Figurative Language

Meredith Hiltbrand
English 112
Griffin
Section DJ
Figurative Language
Figurative language is used in almost everybody’s vocabulary daily. Most of the songs in my iTunes Library consist of some sort of figurative language. One that has always been a favorite of mine is called I’ve Seen a Love by Edwin McCain. The lyrics consist of many metaphors. McCain compares love and his feelings a lot throughout this song.
The phrase, “I've seen a love that rolls like thunder, I've seen a love that falls like rain” are both metaphors for the love that he has seen. McCain seems to be talking about how his love in his life is not going as well as he had planned.
More metaphors occur as the song proceeds. “And our kind of love it burns like summer, like I'm rolling down some old heartache road.” To be honest, I’m not sure what the first phrase is referring to. I could see it meaning that their love burns so hot meaning it as a negative thing or I could see it as a burning desire, a burning love for one another. I am assuming it is meant it a negative way considering this whole song is about how love isn’t working out for him and his significant other.
Edwin McCain is very famous for two of his songs, I’ll Be and These Are the Moments which both consist of metaphors. McCain, along with many other artists, incorporate many different types of figurative language within their music. Doing so creates an interesting light on the song; a new way of looking at a situation. I believe that the better the figurative language, the better the song will be. Lots of people take great interest in the lyrics. If the lyrics are interesting, unique and/or powerful, the song will most likely be a hit.

"I've Seen A Love"
By Edwin McCain

I've seen a love that rolls like thunder
I've seen a love that falls like rain
That kind of love it makes me wonder
Why my love causes me so much pain

I see my ring as it spins on the table
A perfect circle on the dusty wood
Tells of a life, the love and the laughter
Cries my tears for the times that were good

I've seen a love that rolls like thunder
I've seen a love that falls like rain
That kind of love it makes me wonder
Why my love causes me so much pain

One gets lost, one gets lonely
In another world love remains
That kind of love takes away all your empty
That kind of love takes away all your shame

I've seen a love that rolls like thunder
I've seen a love that falls like rain
That kind of love it makes me wonder
Why my love causes me so much pain

And our kind of love it burns like summer
Like I'm rolling down some old heartache road
And all my running and my demons
Can't seem to lift it
Can't seem to lift that love

I've seen a love that rolls like thunder
I've seen a love that falls like rain
That kind of love it makes me wonder
Why my love causes me pain

Intertextuality

Intertextuality—Peyton Manning Sprint Commercial

Although this might not suffice for the homework assignment, I figured it was worth a try.

In this commercial, Peyton Manning is dressed as another man (meaning he has hair and facial hair) talking about/promoting Sprint. While doing so, this “unknown” man is wearing Peyton Manning’s uniform. This “unknown” man (in real life, Peyton Manning) wearing that jersey, makes the audience think of football and Peyton Manning.

Also later in the commercial, he is holding a phone that shows football and he mentions himself and compliments himself. The whole commercial is a text/advertisement for Sprint, but it makes you think of Peyton Manning and football.

Spring Break 2009

We are supposed to write for Tuesday’s class so here goes nothing.

My spring break consisted of pretty much nothing. My boyfriend picked me up on his way home. He goes to Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tennessee. He drove five hours to Miami University and then I drove two hours back to Columbus, Ohio. I couldn’t have been in a better mood on the way back. I was so excited to be back with him and my family.

Once back, I knew that it was like a ticking time bomb. It was going to “blow up” (or end) and I knew when it was going to do so. I had a certain amount of time (8 days) to get done with everything I wanted to do, see everything and everyone and get some alone time. 8 days… 8 days was NOT enough. I ended up doing nothing really. I had planned to go to Ohio University in Athens, Ohio to see my older sister. She is a graduate student there and I was eager to see her and her little dog. However, I never got the chance to do it. Actually, that is a lie, I had plenty of time to do it...but I never did. I wanted to spend time with my boyfriend rather than go down to see her.

I don’t drink, so spring break was no party for me. I spent most of my nights with my boyfriend. Actually I spent every evening with my boyfriend. We were either playing Cranium with his parents or mine ha-ha. It was a lot of fun though; I love Cranium.

As the week went on, I started to realize how so much time had passed. I only had a few more days with my boyfriend and my family. Once I started to think about the little time I had left, I was never left alone by the thought. I was trying to wake up early so I could see things, do things, etc. But it wasn’t ever enough. I wasn’t ever satisfied. It was infuriating.

And then, the time came when I was dozing off for the last time. I was almost in tears. What is so strange, is how I don’t miss my siblings at all. I miss my dad and my boyfriend. Those are the only two people I ever miss. Oh and my dog. I knew it’d be the same way again. As I left my house Sunday afternoon, I started crying, as usual, as I gave my dad a hug. I jump in the car with my boyfriend and just cry for twenty minutes as we drive down the highway. Mostly because I just left my dad, but also because I knew I’d have to leave him once we got to Miami. I tried my best to fight the fear and I was doing pretty well until we got to the exit for Miami.

I lost it all over again. I was crying too hard and shaking too much when we got to Miami. I was able to talk him into staying for a little bit (an hour or so), which was nice. But I knew he couldn’t stay much longer; he had a 5 hour drive ahead of him. I was a complete and utter mess around five o’clock when he left Miami.

He’s my best friend and has been for two and a half years. Finding out that he was going to a completely different state for college was the hardest news I’ve heard in a long time. August 21^st was one of the hardest days of my life. I had to leave my dad and my boyfriend for the first time. Ever since, I’ve just never been the same. I miss Chris (my boyfriend) and my dad more than anything in the world. I’d give almost anything for Chris to be here, to go to Miami.

It’s been a very difficult seven months since I’ve been at Miami. And although I like the sight and size of Miami, I do not think I will pursue my education here any longer. I plan to continue at The Ohio State University. It is closer to home and it is a place my boyfriend is considering transferring to. Also, my older brother goes to OSU, which would make me feel more comfortable. OSU is about fifteen minutes away from my house, so I am also able to go home almost any time that I want. I really think I’d be happier with that.

Rough Draft

Meredith Hiltbrand

“Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name”, a novel by Vendela Vida, details the journey of twenty-eight-year-old Clarissa Iverton, a young woman who finds out that her life is not all that it has been made out to be. Iverton, thrown into a world of disarray due to numerous unknown details about her life being revealed to her, throws away the life she always knew to pursue her curiosity for the one thing she is longing to find out: Where she truly came from, and who her parents really are.

After the death of the man who she knew as her father, Clarissa is left a package that entails certain details about her life that she never knew. For example, it turns out that the name of her father on her birth certificate is not her true father. According to the novel, Clarissa, who was left in a mall fourteen years earlier, has never met her true father. Through her entire life, she was under the impression that the man she grew up loving was lying to her the whole time. On top of that, her fiancé, Pankaj, has a secret of his own that coincides with Clarissa’s father. The whole time that Clarissa and Pankaj have been together, her fiancé has known that Clarissa had never met her true father, and the name on the birth certificate was not her natural father. After these traumatic turn of events, Clarissa decides to leave all that she has come to know, including her future husband, for the pursuit of her curiosity, and the man and woman who are her biological parents.

Once she has begun her journey, Clarissa travels first to the city of Helsinki near the Artic Circle, and then to Lapland where her supposed father lives. During her travels, she encounters a man who is her alleged father, that tells her that she was actually the offspring of an unfortunate series of events that her mother went through; Clarissa is told that she was the child of a woman who was raped. Because Olivia, her mother, was married to a minister when raped, she knew that if she stayed with him, she’d feel pitied constantly for her misfortune. This fear drove her to run from her husband. Once she ran, he tried to find her. He even flew to California, where Olivia’s sister lived, to see if she had gone there. Little did he know, her sister hadn’t even know Olivia was married, let alone pregnant.

Once encountering the shocking news of her alleged father, she went to look for her mother. Clarissa travels from one part of Lapland to another in hopes to find out more about her mother and her biological father. As she travels, she always reminisces about her and her mother when she was younger. Her curiosity seems to stem from her childhood memories.

After her long trip, she finally gets to her destination. While there, she becomes very ill and ends up staying with an older woman, Anna Kristine. Anna Kristine doesn’t speak any English, however they seem to communicate well without words. As Clarissa starts feeling better, she starts searching for any signs of her mother and father. While catching a ride back with a local, she is given an idea as to where her mother might be; working at a hotel.

Clarissa has such ambitions to find her mother and her father. This determination of hers makes this story so interesting. Even though the details and the outcome might be negative, which they ended up being, she still was happy with what she discovered not only about her parents, but herself too.

The End of the Book

The End of the Book

Personally, I did not like this book whatsoever. I definitely enjoyed the flow of it and how easy it was, but I was very, very disappointed in how it ended. I wanted her to realize the mistakes her mother made, which she did to some degree, but not make the same mistakes herself. I was very upset that she never went back to Pankaj. I felt that it was extremely selfish and irrational to never go back to him. I can understand her not wanting to be with him, but to never see him again when she is pregnant with his baby is completely wrong.

The twist in the book about Anna Kristine being her grandmother was very clever. I did not see that twist coming at all. I gained a lot of respect for Anna Kristine taking her in and helping her while she was ill. I questioned many, many times why a random old woman would do such a thing and the answer was revealed at the end.

It was a weird discovery that Clarissa was, in one way or another, related to Henrik even though it was obvious that there was a slight attraction between the two of them. It made their previous relation slightly awkward.

I didn’t think that Henrik was a very interesting person throughout the book. I thought that the whole reindeer herder was weird. He didn’t seem like he did anything that was meaningful. He seemed to herd his reindeer and go out to the bars. Regardless, he was a good friend to Clarissa throughout the whole book. He went with her to the Ice Hotel to meet/find her mother. He was very supportive of what she did.

In the end of the book, the only parts that I enjoyed were how she was able to live her life without torturing herself mentally and that she kept Richard as her father. I think that Richard, although not her biological father, was the only father she ever knew of. Without him, she wouldn’t be half the woman she is and I agreed with her decision to think of him as her father.

When she goes and visits her mother, Clarissa talks about how for the first time, she feels stronger than her mother. When reading that, I felt so happy for her. I can only imagine the strength it takes to spend so much money and time trying to find a mother that neglected and left her. I was disappointed at the time they had together, but I am somewhat impressed as to how Clarissa handled seeing her mother. I could understand why she was so angry and wanted to “shove” her mother when they were in the sauna area. The anger, frustration and sadness that had been building over the past decade and a half meant everything during that short period that she had with her mother. Clarissa seemed to want to talk to her and figure out so many things, but her mother wouldn’t stand for it. It was very shocking that even after fourteen years, her mother is still so selfish.

As far as my paper goes, I really have no idea what I will write about. I think I will develop an idea during our discussion during Tuesday’s class. I am seriously considering writing about the differences between the geographic distances versus the distance emotionally. The only problem with that, is I do not know how I could talk about that for four to six pages. I wouldn’t be able to. I need to come up with something that is interesting enough to talk a lot about. I need to come up with something that has a lot of evidence or possible points.