Healthy Vs. Unhealthy Relationships

As a class we gathered all of the "headers" or "big ideas" of the songs we analyzed. In pairs, we discussed whether, if they were seen in a relationship, they would be considered healthy, unhealthy, or if they can be found in both unhealthy and healthy relationships. When we see these actions or traits in Romeo and Juliet, we will have this chart as reference to see whether the relationship the star-crossed lovers shared was a healthy one or not. Click on the image to make it larger.

Songs that Students Have Chosen

These are the songs that have been called "dibs" on in each of the classes. This means that these  songs cannot be used by anyone else— you must choose a song not on this list.

B2 English:

    1.)    Lips of an Angel - Hinder
    2.)    Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol
    3.)    Total Eclipse of the Heart - Bonnie Tyler
    4.)    Come What May - Ewan McGregor
    5.)    Enchanted - Taylor Swift
    6.)    21 Guns - Greenday
    7.)    Hero - Enrique Iglesias
    8.)    Heart-Shaped Box - Nirvana
    9.)    I Will Wait - Mumford & Son
    10.)    In the Air Tonight - Phil Collins
    11.)    My Girl - The Temptations
    12.)    Betterman - Pearl Jam
    13.)    Ho Hey - The Lumineers
    14.)    Give Me Love - Ed Sheeran
    15.)    Your Cheatin' Heart - Hank Williams Sr.
    16.)   Love Story - Taylor Swift (used in class)
    17.)   I Will Follow You Into the Dark - Death Cab for Cutie

G3 English

    18.)    Amazed - Lonestar
    19.)    Little Talks - Of Monsters and Men
    20.)    1234 - The Plain White T's
    21.)    Wake Me Up - Ed Sheeran
    22.)    Don't Give Up On Me - Jason Aldean
    23.)    Breathe - Faith Hill
    24.)    Feel Again - One Republic
    25.)    Springsteen - Eric Church
    26.)    I Remember You - Skid Row
    27.)    She's Got a Way - Billy Joel
    28.)    This Girl - City and Colour
    29.)    Forever and Always - Parachute
    30.)    Stay - Rhianna
    31.)    Let's Get it On - Marvin Gaye
    32.)    Forever and Forever Amen - Randy Travis

G4 English

    33.)    Mandy - Barry Manilow
    34.)    The Calculation - Regina Spector
    35.)    I'll Be There for You - Bon Jovi
    36.)    You're My Best Friend - Queen
    37.)    You and I - Ingrid Michaelson
    38.)    Angel - Jack Johnson
    39.)    Til My Last Day - Just Moore
    40.)    Elouise - The Damned
    41.)    I Don't Want to Miss a Thing - Aerosmith
    42.)    Then - Brad Paisley
    43.)    Without You - David Guetta
    44.)    I Love You This Big - Scotty McCreary

Lyrical Love

 

 I Will Follow You Into the Dark

Imagining the future together

                  - Often times couples will sort of plan a future together, imagining how wonderful their lives will be together. They believe that each other is an important part of making this plan work, and while they may factor in real issues, often they fantasize unlikely or incredibly picturesque scenarios that are unlikely to occur. Other times, they are a bit more realistic about it. This particular man is a bit morbid.

Reassurance

            - Holding hands is a sign of reassurance and being connected. You often will see someone holding another persons hand when they are going into surgery, or if a loved one of theirs has just died. This sort of interaction is not strictly romantic but does show a relationship between two people. Often one person is guiding the other, or is simply there to support them.

Till death do us part?

                  - “Till death do us part” is something often said at weddings in the couple’s vows. It is meant to show faithfulness, to represent the only thing which will tear them apart, and it is the one experience which each human must face alone. What’s interesting about this song is that the author actually doesn’t want to part after death, he wants to continue being with her even then.

Obsession

                  - Some couples may say that they’re “obsessed” with each other, but the word obsession in relationships should really be reserved for stalkers. One should not wish to die simply because their lover has— there are too many other wonderful things in life to see and do to simply throw it all away for one person.

No fear

                  - Though the nun in the song says that “fear is the heart of love”, the singer of the song clearly protests. John 4:18 says: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love throws fear outside, because fear exercises a restraint. Indeed, he that is under fear has not been made perfect in love." In a healthy relationship fear is not anything that should be caused by either person to be felt by their loved one.

Shared experiences

                  - When one decides to get married, or even just start a relationship with someone, they are asking this person to share their life experiences with them. While words and conversations may begin a relationship, little brings people closer than participating in an important event or experiencing something life-altering together. Many times celebrity musicians or actors will have mostly famous friends or spouses because they feel as though only they can understand them, as they have gone through similar things in their lives that perhaps no one outside of their professions would understand.

Closeness

                  - If you say you’re “close” to someone you either mean in proximity or emotionally. Many times, couples are both. They will sit next to each other, kiss, hold hands, etc. etc. but they will also be close to each other in that they know one another well, and understand their significant other.

Isolation

                  - The idea of being alone “together” is one that has fueled many young romances. The feeling  seems to be that no one else quite “gets it”, that you’re all alone in this, except for that one person who can stand beside you. This sort of relationship gives you tunnel vision, to where it seems like it’s you and that person against the world.

Following someone to the grave

            - To say that you will meet someone in the afterlife can mean a couple things. It can mean that you hope to see them in Heaven or whatever other place you may go, when it is your time to leave this earth of old age or sickness. But, it can also mean a willingness to commit suicide to “be” with them. Much like in Romeo and Juliet, I think it should be made clear that suicide is not a romantic notion, but a terrible and regrettable decision made when one is extremely upset.

"Romeo & Juliet": A Lyrical Love

The famous "Balcony Scene"

 Romeo and Juliet has long been considered one of the worlds classic love stories— but is that entirely fair? One of the things we will explore during this unit will be the clues that have led some readers to believe that these young people were madly in love, while others seem to think that the pair were simply obsessed with each another.

 In this lesson we're going to look at the lyrics of different love songs, and analyze them in order to decipher what "romance" and / or "love" means to the writers of these songs. Just like poets, lyricists  don't always just "come out and say it", ya know? The assignment is to pick a love song and explain which parts of it are meant to be romantic or represent a romantic relationship, and then write why you believe them to be this way. You must find at least four examples in the song, and remember that you don't have to find it romantic for your own life, it just has to has to be something that you know could be identified as such.

To understand some of these lyrics you may need to use your knowledge of metaphors, similes or cultural references (such as historical events, literature, etc.), while other terms and lyrics may be more obvious. Here are some sites you should use to get your lyrics: http://www.letssingit.com/ - http://www.lyrics.com/ - http://www.metrolyrics.com/

In your blog post, please include a video where the song is used. This can be the music video, lyric video, or a fan-made video. Totally up to you. You may choose any song you wish as long as you can apply it to the theme of "love" and / or "romance". If you are having trouble picking a song, see these sites for suggestions: Top 100 Love Songs - Classic Wedding Songs - Best Love Songs of the Past Decade

If only Romeo had brought his boombox to the
balcony... maybe things would have ended
differently.

Instructions:
1.) Pick a love song.
2.) Find the lyrics.
3.) Analyze the lyrics. Put a word or phrase that sums up the idea behind a line or a few lines. These will become "headers" later on, and you will need at least four headers. This may be easier if you print them out and then write key words or phrases on the paper right next to the lyrics, but you can certainly do this in a word document as well. An example of this step in a word processor can be found here: Example Part A.
4.) Take all of the terms, ideas or references that you identified as "romantic" or relating to "love", and use them as headers so you may write your thoughts more deeply underneath. See here for an example: Example Part B.
5.) Create a blog post and title it "Lyrical Love".
6.) Find a video of your song and post it at the top of your blog post. Write the name of the song underneath it underlined and a size or two larger than the font used in the rest of the blog.
7.) Post your headers with the explanations (whatever work you had for step 4) underneath the video.
8.) Send links to your blog entries to Mrs. Deraps at hderaps@mtbluersd.org
9.) You will need to give a short presentation of your blog post on Tuesday, and explain your songs idea of "romance" briefly, giving short explanations of your headers. We will then be discussing everyone's headers as a class, and deciding which parts of them are seen in a healthy or unhealthy relationship.

For an example blog post, see here: Blog Example