[The Digital Pimp]

Use the stuff you learned in english!

You know, verbal devices. Many of them you will use intuitively already, but it's good to know that you know what you are doing, and the range of them available. These will help create images in your writing that will make you lyric writing more immersive. Here are some common ones:

-alliteration: multiple consonant sounds eg: "crushed cars" "a tale of trouble and torture"

-allusion: referring to something, eg: using "star crossed lovers" to talk about your girlfriend, is an allusion to Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet. "send in your Trojan horse" is of course an allusion to Troy in Greek mythology.

-onomatopoeia: using words of sounds eg: crash, bang, sizzle, hiss, pop, boom

-simile: comparing one thing to another: "the stars are like diamonds"

-metaphor: saying that something takes on the qualities of something else, much like a simile, except instead of saying something 'is like' something, it 'is'. eg: "the cat's eyes were jewels, gleaming in the darkness". "the window was etched with frost". "my fear is a prison"

-hyperbole: a deliberate exaggeration: "tons of money"

-symbol: when an image is symbolic of a feeling/situation. A simple example is the cross, a symbol of Christianity. You could sing about a boiling kettle to symbolise your anger.

-parallel construction: beginning a sentence with the same opening words, an example is Martin Luther King Jr's "I have a dream" speech

-personification: giving an non-human object human qualities: "the sun smiled on us" "the vines grasped my legs" "time stood still"

-pun: a play on words: "he's out at the inn!"

-satire: "The use of mockery, irony, or wit to attack or ridicule something, such as a habit, idea, or custom that is, or is considered to be, foolish or wrong. " Political lyrics often satirise.

-oxymoron: Using opposite words in a sentence: "thunderous silence" "heavy lightness"