Lesson: “Stairway to Heaven”—Examining Metaphor in

Popular Music

1. Define & discuss metaphor using examples. (Make sure to distinguish

from simile)

2. Find a song to discuss with metaphor in the lyrics (like “Stairway to

Heaven”). Example: Stylo by Gorillaz

a. “Love, electricity, shockwave central

Pummel on the motherboard, yes
Push up, overload, legendary heavy glow […]

b. “Overload, overload, overload

Comin' up to the
Overload, overload, overload […]

c. “Yes, this love is electric/ It'll be flowing on the street

Night after night/ Just to get through the week
Sometimes it's hard/ Right now”

3. Lead discussion on metaphor, asking them to find examples & interpret the
meanings.

4. Homework: find their own song with metaphor & print the lyrics for next class.

5. Share metaphor project rubric so students understand expectations of the project.

6. Use Literary Graffiti Tool to have students create visual responses to the song lyrics
they chose.

Paraphrase from ReadWriteThink.org, a content partner of Thinkfinity.org

Source: http://www.readwritethink.org/resources/resource-print.html?
id=975&tab=4