Feeling Good by Michael Buble | Teen Ink

Feeling Good by Michael Buble

June 9, 2011
By lily_says_rawr GOLD, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
lily_says_rawr GOLD, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
13 articles 0 photos 11 comments

Poetry as a whole has some specific qualities. When you look at some songs, you can find these same qualities. Certain standards are expected for something to be considered a poem. The biggest question though is, “Are songs with poetical aspects considered poems?” For example, in the song, “Feeling Good”, by Michael Buble, there are a few poetical aspects. These include some great imagery along with a lot of repetition in the song. It is interesting how much imagery there is. A couple small poetical elements in the song help to make it poetical. Also, based on analysis, the song is a metaphor in it’s own subtle way. Even though it may not be easily seen, it is very important. The reason for this song choice was for a few different reasons, actually. These range from the amazing imagery to the depth and meaning of the song. As you can see so far, there are poetical characteristics in the song. Therefore, “Feeling Good” could be considered a poem.

There is a lot of imagery in this song. It is very vivid and is shown throughout the course of the whole song. In this, he describes the natural things he is seeing; animals, trees, and other scenic things. “Birds flying high/ Blossom on a tree/ River running free/ Sun in the sky” (1,16,14,3). In the song, it is perceived as if he is talking a walk and seeing these things in nature as he goes along. He also talks to things. “Blossom on a tree. You know how I feel.” (16-17). As he is doing these things, it is obvious that he is thinking very hard and is coming to different realizations about nature and himself. At first in the song, it appears as if he is walking along with his hands in his pockets and is upset. In this state of mind, he could be saying to things, “You know how I feel.” (6). Then he becomes more passionate and encouraged by something and in response says, “It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life for me and I’m feeling good.” (7-11). This pattern repeats again three more times, each time more optimistic. You can almost picture this big smile on his face at this point and then it finally gets to where he says that he, himself, is feeling good. During the course of the song, the scene stays the same as far as what is going on until the end, where he just stops in his tracks and comes to reality and realizations. This is the possible imagery that could be seen in this song, which has just as much imagery as a poem.

In “Feeling Good”, there is a lot of repetition. It could be perceived in a few different ways. First of all, the repetition could just mean that it is a very important part or aspect of the song. In poetry, authors use this depending on the style. It could be important because it is the hopeful part of the song or maybe it is there because those are the parts in the song that the writer is trying to get to in the writing because of the story and metaphorical reasons. “It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life for me.” After each verse, these few lines appear. They are the obscure lines of the song that seem to come out of nowhere that are written as if intended to stick out. If it weren’t for the repetition of these lines, the importance of them would not be recognized. They are like the stable and consistent parts of the song that the whole thing relies on to get from one place to another. Metaphorically speaking, they are the fresh starts of his situation. This is how the role of repetition plays a part in the song. The way it is written is also similar to poetry. You can find poems with the same repetition pattern of this song.

As in most poems, there are different elements of poetry. They can range from alliterations to oxymora. They really seem to define part of what poetry is about. In “Feeling Good”, there are two different poetical elements. The first one is a hyperbole. A hyperbole is a wild exaggeration of something. In this song it says, “And this old world is a new world.” (27). The world really isn’t new. This line could also be a metaphor, which means that it is a fresh start. The other poetical devise that is in this song is personification. It appears throughout the entire song. For example, “Sun in the sky. You know how I feel.” (3-4). “Scent of the pine. You know how I feel.” (33-34). The sun and the pine’s scent don’t actually know how he feels. The song is giving human qualities to an object. Again, hyperbolism and personification are completely poetical elements. For a song to contain these, it must be considered a poem.
In this song, the metaphorical aspect plays a big role in it being considered poetry. It is very subtle, but it has an important role in the song. First of all, the objects in which he refers to are singular. The case could be that this man is feeling alone and reaching out for connection and understanding from people, which he obviously isn’t getting. The metaphor of him talking to these objects is only that of saying that nobody understands how he feels and the closest thing he is getting to be understood is by an individual blossom or dragonfly. That is the general metaphor, but it actually gets deeper into each line. “Birds flying high.” (1). This could mean that he feels on top of the world. “Sun in the sky.” (3). He is at a high place in his life, but he is there alone. “Breeze driftin’ on by.” (5). He is free and on his own with no guidance. “It’s a new dawn. It’s a new day. It’s a new life for me and I’m feeling good.” (7-11). Here, he has hope that he can have a fresh start and it’s all going to be okay. Most importantly, he is feeling good about it. This is how the metaphorical aspect of the song fits in. This relates to poetry because authors use metaphors all of the time to convey their message in a more powerful way. It is one of the most common poetical styles of writing. This is why “Feeling Good” could even more now at this point, be considered a poem.
Throughout the song “Feeling Good”, there are many poetical aspects. Imagery is a big key component, which sets the mood for the whole song and allows you to use your imagination. Poems are full of imagery, which brings it to life. There is also a lot of repetition in the song, which has a few purposes. It could be trying to stress something, or like in poems, it is because of the structure of the poem that the author will use repetition. There are not very many, but this song has poetical elements such as hyperbolism and personification. These types of things are used in poems constantly to express thoughts in a new light. The entire song is a metaphor. This can be interpreted differently based on how you approach it. Poetry uses metaphors more then anything else. It seems to take the meaning of the poem to a whole new level. “Feeling Good” is a song, but now looking at these poetical aspects, without knowing it is a song, you might just as well guess that that it is a poem. It takes some digging and studying the song, but you can find poetry within songs. So in conclusion to all of this, this song, along with many others, is in fact a poem.


The author's comments:
Through this "review", I hope that people will come to realize that music is much more then meets the eye, but in fact, poetry.

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Josh said...
on Feb. 28 2018 at 4:27 pm
This song is a thinly veiled breakup song about not being satisfied with their sex life.