Rachel M. Harper's The Myth Of Music

Music is one of the few languages in the world that is universal. Regardless of your hometown, native tongue, or culture, everyone can indulge in the beautiful melodies and rhythms that are created through different methods, whether it be a unified symphony or the gleeful cacophonies of children banging on pots and pans. This gift of a universal language is what makes Rachel M. Harper's “The Myth of Music” captivating and entrancing to the reader; everyone can understand Harper’s emotions through references that allude back to the art of music. Harper’s use of metaphors linked by personification, hyperbole, and asyndeton further aids the reader in empathizing with the melancholic yet loving passion that she holds for music and her father.

The poem is in free verse, allowing Harper to utilize hyperboles to engage the reader for longer periods of time. For example, the phrase “to fill the whole house with your spirit” (lines 38–39) is written by Harper to show a more grand visualization to the reader. The exaggerated personability of music Rachel M. Harper feels is expressed through the lines, “They lie when they say music is universal – this is my song. . . as delicate as breath”. Here, hyperbole is used to ensure the reader can connect the characteristics of Harper’s thoughts and feelings. The use of hyperbole is complementary to the metaphors in The Myth of Music, which lead the reader into a draining tunnel of visualization. The reader’s capacity to understand the themes of the piece is expanded and perhaps refreshed by intervals of exaggeration placed by Rachel M. Harper. The following line is indicative of this technique: “This is the only myth I know.” (line 11), as it concludes a

For example, the use of extended metaphors can be found within the following lines: “This melody is my inheritance, lineage. . .line fact” (lines 3–10). This culmination of metaphors creates an extended metaphor, which relates genetically inherited traits to music associated with childhood memories. By writing “that you pin to the wall as art” (lines 7–10), Rachel M. Harper adds a connection to the end of the metaphor, implying that she is currently positively reminiscent of her childhood. The extension of this metaphor allows the reader to understand Harper’s feelings by correlating a multiplicity of senses to create a current, palpable, and immersive experience. The lines “I sit on the hardwood floors of a damp November.” utilize personification to describe possible feelings of sadness, whereas the lines “my brother dealing cards from an incomplete deck” personify being dealt cards from an incomplete deck. This could be interpreted as being limited in familial interaction due to the absence of Harper’s