Identifying rhyme schemes in popular songs

We really enjoy rhymes. There's just something so satisfying about hearing words that sound similar but are not the same. (and god forbid you rhyme a word with with the same word). It's even better when you get to say something meaningful through rhymes, like Chuck D did back in 1988.

                         ...And on that day, Chuck D forbade kids to rhyme for the sake of riddlin'


 There are many elements present in good poetry writing (Rap= Rhythm And Poetry [the more you know!]) internal rhymes, assonance, consonance, etc. For now, let's just stick to the most basic: the rhyme scheme. A rhyme scheme is "a poet's deliberate pattern of lines that rhyme with other lines in a poem or stanza". [definition brought to you by www.study.com - great resource!] We assign a letter to a line that ends with a particular word, and assign the same letter to other lines that end with the same word sound. It will eventually look something like this:

       (That's an excerpt from the Sound of Silence, by Simon and Garfunkel.) [It's a good song.]

It's pretty simple. You will eventually notice that many songs share the same patterns. AABB and ABAB are the most common, but experienced writers might also tussle with AAAA or ABXB (X meaning that it doesn't rhyme with anything else) rhyme schemes to spice up their poems. There are countless rhyme schemes out there. Your job as a citizen of the world is to listen to various writers from different genres and ages and look out for cool rhyme schemes.

With that in mind, let's do a little exercise.

-Look up an excerpt of the lyrics to one of your favorite songs. (At least 14 lines.)
-Identify the rhyme scheme. Is it similar to the ones explained in this post, or is it something completely different?
-Share your results with us!

Until next time...

                                                                  This will be fun...

Conflict in the superhero genre

Why we can't get enough of these guys punching each other.

 "Once upon a time, a super powered alien landed on our planet. The people who found him adopted him and raised him as if he was an ordinary boy. He flew around town every once in a while. The end."

What happened here? Nothing. Every story needs plot progression, or else there's not much to keep you from reading. The best way to spice up a story? Conflict.

That's more like it.

Conflict is the driving force of a narrative. Different sources claim a different amount of conflict tropes. Some say there are 4. Others say there are 8. For the purpose of this post, lets go with 5. I will list them, briefly review them and provide examples.

1) Person vs Person = The most basic type of conflict. When a character's goal is at odds with another character's goal. (Bob needs to defeat Alice to become Class President). [source: tvtropes.org]

2) Person vs Self = The character is at odds with him or herself. He or she may question his or her own abilities; an issue of principle; a tough decision. (Alexa caught her friend Jamie stealing from a classmate. Now Alexa must choose between keeping her friendship with Jamie and doing the right thing). [Source: ereadingworksheets.com]

3) Person vs Nature = The character's struggle is brought upon him or her by the forces of nature.(natural disasters, harsh climates, wild animals, etc.) (Tom must quickly adapt to the limited resources on the deserted island).

4) Person vs Society = When a character challenges the manifestation of a culture, institution, value, etc. (Two men fall in love in a homophobic society).

5) Person vs God/Fate = The character is at odds with what he or she is destined to do. (Michael inherits his father's position in the family business, but he doesn't want anything to do with it.)

Now of course, a conflict might include more than one of these categories at the same time, and a particular conflict may be interpreted in various ways. Would you consider Bruce Banner and the The Hulk to be different entities, and thus classify it as "person vs person"? Or would you say that Bruce and The Hulk are one in the same, and thus it would count as a "person vs self" scenario?

Now that we have covered the basics, I ask you: Which conflicts found in the superhero genre do you find compelling? Does it fall in line with these types, or is it something else? You can cite any sort of media that includes them (comics, movies, tv shows, video games, etc).

The list.

Lists. Everybody loves lists (except maybe a list of groceries, unless you're an avid cook or my mom). Take for example the popular comedy website www.cracked.com. Most of their articles consist of different types of lists, which range from the informative to the opinionated, and everybody loves to read them.

This is a list I wrote a few years ago for a music website called www.sputnikmusic.com. Now, its far from perfect, but you get the idea: Anyone can, and should write them.

Why make a list though? Well...why not? They're fun to read, a good way to express yourself and an excellent writing exercise.

For our first workshop activity, I want you to write a list. On what? Well, the sky is the limit, but here are some ideas:

-Favorite films of the decade (so far).
-Most disappointing music collaborations.
-Most bizarre scientific discoveries.
-Greatest singers of all time.

Your list should contain:

-A striking title.
-A short introduction that contextualizes the list.
-At least 5 items.
-Logical order.
-At least a paragraph that elaborates on your reasoning for the item's position on your list.

You can use websites like www.blogger.com to create said list, or simply submit it as a word document.

Get to it!

"Mere distractions" as educational tools: An introduction to our workshop.

If you're like me, you have trouble concentrating at school whenever the day's lesson is boring. You'd much rather go to the movies, go home and play music and video games all day. If you're like me, you've had your parents and teachers give you flack for spending so much time on "mere distractions" and not enough time studying.

What if I told you that you could use your "mere distractions" in order to do better in school?

That's exactly what we set out to do in our workshop. With each blog post, we will discuss topics you would see on an everyday English class, such as elements of literature and writing techniques, and use our "mere distractions" as our primary educational resource. Whether applying literary analysis on the hottest new movies or writing up a list about your favorite video games, our goal is to develop crucial analytic and creative skills needed to succeed in school, college and life.

So I invite you to join us in our quest to have fun, practice, and most of all, learn.

Cheers.