English Project

• Title page (project title, song title, picture of artist, name of artist, names of project members, date).

• Typed lyrics to a song.

• A CD containing the song.

• Three separate slides explaining how three poetic devices are present in the song.

• A summary of what the song is about.

by Anthony Fournier

December 10, 2008

These Foolish Things

- Rod Stewart

Lyrics of Songs as Poetry

THESE FOOLISH THINGS

A cigarette that bears a lipstick’s traces

An airline ticket to romantic places

And still my heart has wings . . .

These foolish things remind me of you

A tinkling piano in the next apartment

Those stumbling words that told you what my heart meant

A fairground’s painted swings . . .

These foolish things remind me of you

You came, you saw

And you conquered me

When you did that to me

I knew somehow this had to be

The winds of March that made my heart a dancer

A telephone that rings but who’s to answer?

Oh, how the ghost of you clings!

These foolish things remind me of you.

The scent of smoldering leaves, the wail of steamers

Two lovers on the street who walk like dreamers

Oh, how the ghost of you clings!

These foolish things remind me of you.

How strange, how sweet

To find you still

These things are dear to me

They seem to bring you so near to me . . .

The sigh of midnight trains in empty stations,

Silk stockings thrown aside, dance invitations.

Oh, how the ghost of you clings!

These foolish things remind me of you.

RhymeRhyme

Rhyme is the similarity of ending sounds between two words.

We know that These Foolish Things contains rhyme because:

A cigarette that bears a lipstick’s traces

An airline ticket to romantic places

The words traces and places sound the same - they rhyme.

SimileSimile

A Simile is a comparison between two objects using a specific word or comparison such as "like", "as", or "than".

We know that These Foolish Things contains a simile because:

Two lovers on the street who walk like dreamers.

The two lovers are being compared to dreamers using the word like .

PersonificationPersonification

A figure of speech which endows animals, ideas, or inanimate objects with human traits

or abilities.

We know that These Foolish Things contains personification because:

The sigh of midnight trains in empty stations,

The line makes it sound as if the trains are alive because they are sighing. The line really means that the exhaust from the trains makes noise in the night.

What the Song is About

These Foolish Things is about someone being reminded of a

departed loved one. We do not know if that loved one has moved

away, left the relationship, or died. We do know that various things such as cigarettes with lipstick marks, the smell of smoldering leaves, and the sound of trains remind the speaker of his

love.