Mikhala Andrade

                                                                                                                                November 4, 2011

                                                                                                                                 Poetry of song: G

                                                                                                                                  Song Analysis

                                               

                                                    “Little Green” by Joni Mitchell

                In life there are many obstacles that we face each day. Even though the obstacles in our life might be challenging to overcome. People should always keep their head up, because at the end of the day “life moves on.” Shifting from second to third person point of view, In “Little Green,” Joni Mitchell uses a melancholy tone, uplifting personification, and a natural imagery to convey that life is too short to be upset, and one should be happy.

                Mitchell uses a lovely tone to illustrate how life is too beautiful to waste, and that everyone should be a “gypsy dancer.” While listening to the song, listeners cannot help but take notice on how her voice is so calm and beautiful. In order to make her point across, she uses her voice as an advantage to show us that she is not stressing about her problems in life. “You’re sad and you’re sorry, but you’re not ashamed.” Yes Mitchell does struggle, but through it all she is not ashamed of her past decisions in life. The song is a success, because the tone she sings the song in describes her real emotion, and how Joni feels about her own situation.

                Joni uses a variety of seasonal personification to convey that life is too short to be upset, and one should always be happy. In the song Joni says “Call her Green and the winters cannot fade her.” In reality winters cannot fade someone. She also says “like the color when the spring is born.” Joni is using the tool: personification because spring can’t be born. “Like the nights when the Northern lights perform,” there is no such thing as northern lights performing or dancing. All of these quotes that she uses portrays the beauty of the seasons, the idea of being a free spirit and a happy life.

                Mitchell paints a naturalistic picture in our heads, to show us that we only live once, so we should make the best of it.”Hearing that everything’s warmer there, so write him a letter and say her eyes are blue.” She is describing the baby’s eye color. “Like the nights when the Northern lights perform, there’ll be icicles and birthday clothes, and sometimes there’ll be sorrow.” The author paints a visual in our heads, and also shows us that in life we are going to have our good days. However sometimes we are not always going to have great days, but we should always be happy.

                Life is a beautiful thing that God gave us, and Joni helps us the listeners see that. Even through the rough times, people should always look at the positive side. Some people don’t believe that life is worth living, and think that life sucks. But little do they know that God gave us a life, because we all have a purpose in this world. Like they all say “life is good.”