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BNL - When I Fall Poetry - College Essays

BNL - When I Fall Poetry

“When I fall” is a lyrical song written by Steven Page and Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies. It is about a window washer who is at a critical moment in his life. The song is structured in such a way that a progression and transformation is seen in the window washers troubles from worrisome to life threatening. The window washer is the persona of the poem, and in the first stanza he expresses a fear. He is somewhere he doesn’t want to be and is scared. This is followed by the chorus of the song in which it is made clear that he wants to make a change in his life, but is afraid of failure. At this point the window washers troubles take on the form of deep mental anguish where he resorts ...

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become radical and he contemplates suicide. By the end of the song however, he pulls himself together and realizes that what he does and who is does have some value in the world.
All of this is brought to the reader by an abundant use of figurative language throughout the song. For Instance, the scaffold the man is standing on symbolizes his position in life (he is scared and wants to escape. In the third stanza, after describing the problems with his world and how he prays, he curses the windstorms. This is actually a metaphor for his mental confusion and despair. In the next stanza, the prestige of the boardroom is made evident by the allusion of it towards a pharoahs tomb. We know in the end that he has pulled it all together when he calls his “crystal clear canvas” (the windows) a “masterpiece” . He has given value to his work and thus, value to his life.
The sonf has a definite rhyme scheme which lends itself well to the theme of the poem. In the stanza which addresses ...

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BNL - When I Fall Poetry. (2007, April 4). Retrieved January 3, 2026, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/BNL-When-I-Fall-Poetry/62841

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 4/4/2007 02:52:54 PM
Category: American History
Type: Free Paper
Words: 532
Pages: 2

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