Poetic Elements

  Enjambment and end-stopping effects the way one reads the poem

§  And when we buried him beneath the willow-- enjambment 

§  The angels sang a whisky lullaby-- end- stopping 

Iambic

Literal Meaning

The girl thought she was over him and so she broke his heart, "She broke his heart; He spent his whole trying to forget." Without her he was miserable as was she when he drank to ease the pain, "She finally drank her pain away."

Music and figurative meaning

o  Instruments: light drum that keeps the beat and guitar that sets up the melody.

o  Rhythm: The rhythm is slow and consistent.

o  Melody: The melody first comes across as sad, but when closely analyzed the melody is not happy, but more of a bittersweet sound that is genuine to the lyrics of the song.

•     The lalalalalalala’s create a whimsical element to the song like a lullaby which puts people to sleep (death)

“We laid her next to him beneath the willow 

While the angels sang a whiskey lullaby”

The willow is important because in the music video you see that the willow is where there story begins, where they fall in love, and where they end together side-by-side. Weeping willows are also whimisical in appearance which goes along with the tone of the song. Also the name weeping willow has a double meaning in the weeping part because all the pain that both people in the song suffer from caused them many tears.

Meaning

You can't avoid life's messiness, and things will not always turn out the way you think they will. Life will throw curve balls that will completely change your plans, but no matter the obstacles (you do what you have to do to get through (in this case, drink alcohol) and at the end of road there will be a haven of safety, love, and rightness.

     When something seems to destroy everything you believe in in your life and nothing will make it better, one would rather die and not have to suffer any more than to be miserable on their time on Earth. 

  Life is short but this time it was bigger,
Than the strength he had to get up off his knees

Music Video

Rhetorical Device

The bottle was just as powerful as a gun, because it could kill. The day she passed away was the day she drank away his memory because then they were together, "She put that bottle to her head and pulled the trigger,And finally drank away his memory." There were also symbols of their love as they died because of love and guilt. The girl was, "clinging to his picture for dear life" while He died "with a note that said I'll love her 'till i die." It's ironic because they both items about death during the last moments of their lives.

Diction

Examples of euphonious words throughout the lyrics: away, knees, memory, whiskey, pillow, willow, lullaby, beneath, breath, lalalalalalala. Along with being euphonious lullaby and whiskey also have a small beat.

Speaker

In this case Brad Paisley and Allison Krauss are the speakers because the song it told from their point of view for instance "We watched him drink his pain away a little at a time." We refers to the speaker in this quotation as well, "We found him with his face down in the pillow."

Rhyme Scheme