The Myth Of Music By Rachel M. Harper Analysis

Music, for many, is a form of communication that cannot otherwise be expressed through a simple word or gesture. In “The Myth of Music” by Rachel M. Harper, the speaker conveys the closeness and authority she feels over music in her life, specifically in terms of the relationship she has with her family, by using (metaphorical) diction and shift in tone, effectively relaying the shield she has put up to protect personal experiences through musical memories.

Harper conveys the fact that everyone has been intertwined with music throughout their entire life whether they realize it or not. From the moment someone is born into the world, they are introduced to music. Music is not classified as just instruments and vocals, but rather it’s all around

She uses her importance and connection to music to show that even while things change and she grows up, the one thing that remains constant is the melody. She recalls her mother leaving and it is a long, painful experience, she knows she is actively forgetting the good in her childhood. The speaker is aware of her childhood memories “fading like the words of a lullaby”, but there is a sense of comfort in knowing that no matter the circumstances, they will remain. The personal relationship in the jazz albums and small nuances add up together to create something that blooms from the

While this bond through music is extremely personal in the poem “The Myth of Music”, it can be interpreted differently through each unique individual instead of as a collective, which was Rachel M. Harper’s main motivation through this piece of intricately crafted poetry. Harper expresses her connection with music and how it has defined her relationship with her father and the rest of her family in many delicate and intimate ways that in various instances have brought her a sense of meaning and comfort that most things could not have given her. Through the final realization, the last note of the discography, the liveliness in the ever-present saxophone and its beauty brings a long, yearned-for closure to the story, and hope to move