Diction Essay

Two historic bands, White Lion and Poison, rocked the 80’s with their ripping guitar solo’s and their flick-your-bic ballads. The theme of loss soared through the 80’s; ironically never lost itself throughout time and it still exist largely in today’s music. White Lion’s When the Children Cry is an example of the theme of loss, while Poison’s Every Rose Has Its Thorn shows a different type of loss. Both examples demonstrate a different diction, the choice of words the songwriter chose, throughout their lyrics.

White Lion’s When the Children Cry is demonstrates the loss of the world around us and the world that is left to the younger generation. This type of loss differs from many other songs that were created throughout the 80’s, which usually depicts the loss of one’s love. An example of the loss of the world around us in the song’s lyrics is, “What have we become/Just look what we have done/All that we destroyed/You must build again.” This shows that man now is destroying the natural world around him, and that the younger generation must rebuild what this one has destroyed. The diction used here is plain and simple to describe the situation, as opposed to the next song…

Poison’s Every Rose Has Its Thorn is an example of the loss of one’s love. Every lyrics of this song is about how the songwriter intended this song to be depicted as loss. Many of the lyrics, as well as the title, allude to the theme of loss, and some lyrics come out plainly and show the listener that the song is about loss. The lyrics, “Every rose has its thorn/Just like every night has its dawn/Just like every cowboy sings his sad, sad song/Every rose has its thorn” show the usage diction and allusion to describe how the songwriter has been through a loss.

In the two songs, When the Children Cry and Every Rose Has Its Thorn, both use different diction to show how their songs use the theme of loss. However, both songs show a different type of loss. When the Children Cry shows the destruction of the natural world by the current generation and how the next generation will have to rebuild it; as Every Rose Has Its Thorn shows how the loss of one’s love affects their life. The diction in the first song is blatant and shows the audience the point of the song clearly, where as the second song uses different diction to allude to the theme.