Song Analysis 1; Hailies Song by Eminem

     Revealing a father’s frustrations in “Hailie’s Song,” Eminem uses mood, alliteration, and consonance to display his emotional roller coaster as he struggles to maintain his sanity without his daughter. Quite often in the song, Eminem says “It feels like the world’s almost over, but then she comes back to me”. The feeling of uncertainty and madness that Eminem shows  is explaining how it feels like the world is ending, but once he is reunited with his daughter, he feels normal and his life is better.

    Using mood to set a depressed and upset tone saying “Sometimes I think there’s nothing to live for/ I almost break down and cry”, describes the pain and agony he goes through for his daughter. The mood continues to switch from his painful, unhappy life; To his very happy, and joyful life with his daughter. Happiness spreads through him “But then I see my baby, suddenly I’m not crazy”, and suddenly he isn’t insane anymore.

    Alliteration is a large factor in the song while describing all of the stress being released “I got my baby, the only lady that I adore, Hailie”. He then shows how good it feels to be with her “And now it don’t feel like the world’s on my shoulders”. The powerful flow in the song is displayed when he uses alliteration describing his feelings.

    Occasional consonance in the song help’s with the smooth and strong flow by rhyming the last words of each line with each other. Describing his pain and stress by saying “It feels like the world’s on my shoulders, everyone is leaning on me”, he then uses consonance and says “This boulder on my shoulder gets heavy to hold, and I think my neck is breaking, should I just give up and live to these expectations?”.     

  Eminem uses these different devices to help create a strong feeling and rhyme throughout the song. The lyrics show the frustration and hecticness that he is going through. The sense of struggle is clear and sets a strong tone in the song. Using these devices, Eminem is able to display a knowledge of these devices, and also sending a powerful message to the listener.