Behind the Music: A Research Paper

In our study of American Literature, we don’t just read the essays, stories, novels, plays, and poems of America, but we look at the history and philosophy surrounding them. Good writers write about what they know, what they see, what they worry about, and what they would like to change in the world around them. In this way, we have learned about what it was like to be living in the late 1800s and early 1900s even though that way of life has long passed. And we have found ways of relating to these people because the struggles they faced, while maybe unique to their time period, are also struggles that are universal and timeless. Years from now, people will read the stories, poems, and books of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s and learn about our hopes, our fears, our concerns, and our problems, and they will learn about us.

Your research paper should be written to help your audience understand what these concerns, problems, hopes, and fears are. You need to analyze some poetry of recent years for meaning, but instead of choosing someone whose poetry is just written down, you will choose a poet whose words are put to music. Choose a musical artist or band that interests you and write a research paper in which you analyze their music for deeper meanings. You need to analyze at least three songs and include this analysis in your research paper.

Your research paper should answer the following questions:
1. What do your chosen songs mean?
2. What larger themes run through this artist's work?
3. What is this artist hoping to express to the world through his/her/their music?
4. In what way does this music reflect the larger concerns, problems, issues of society?
5. How does this artist reflect the specific decade in which he, she, or they is most popular or influential? What is happening in this decade that can be found in these songs?

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Creating a podcast