Candle in the Wind - Elton John (ballad)
Elton John, in his song “Candle in the Wind”, uses simile, personification, and allusion to commemorate the life of one of Hollywood’s biggest icons, Marilyn Monroe. In the first verse, the speaker writes about the kind of person he believed her to be, despite the person others tried to change her into. He uses an apostrophe and simultaneously alludes to her as “Norma Jean,” which was her name before she changed it to Marilyn Monroe. Figuratively, he talks about the ways in which the media tried to influence who she really was, saying that “They set you on the treadmill / And they made you change your name.” The speaker feels it is unjust that throughout her life, Monroe could never show her true colors. In the chorus, he talks about the way she lived and the legend she left behind. Using a simile, he writes that for most of her life, she acted “like a candle in the wind”, and he elaborates by saying that when bad times overtook her life, she didn’t have anyone stable in her life to turn to for help. He feels empathetic towards her, and says he would have wanted to know her, even though this is unrealistic since he was much younger than her. To end the chorus, he writes “Your candle burned out long before your legend ever did”, suggesting that she was remembered by the rest of the world long after she had died. This statement also personifies the “legend” she carried with her. In the second verse, he discusses the idea that Hollywood abused her to the point of extreme pain, and that even after her death, the news continued following her story. Towards the end of the song, the speaker adds a powerful sentiment that beautifully summarizes his feelings towards her and her legacy: “Goodbye Norma Jean / From the young man in the twenty second row / Who sees you as something more than sexual / More than just our Marilyn Monroe.” He knew that there was a deeper personality behind the facade that the entire nation believed to be the real Marilyn Monroe. Elton John uses these devices to accurately express the theme of the song, which is that after legendary Hollywood stars die, people will always remember the person the media conveyed, rather than the person he or she actually was.
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