Thursday, January 28, 2010

"Strawberry Wine" Analysis


Deana Carter is a seasoned country singer who has worked very hard to achieve her dreams. Deana began perusing a music career at the age of 17. She did not have much success, so she entered the University of Tennessee where she performed singing for pure enjoyment, rather than for a career. In 1994, her demo tape caught the attention of Willie Nelson, who asked Carter if she would like to join his Farm Aid VII concert. That year she signed a contract with Capitol Records. In 1995, Deana released her debut album, Did I Shave my Legs for This, “Strawberry Wine” was her debut country single and it reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles and Tracks, while her album topped charts and sold millions. Deana Carter’s fun-loving personality and undying motivation to create music makes her truly a country music star.


“Strawberry Wine” is a song about growing up, moving on, and looking back on past memories. Carter uses local color throughout this song by talking about a farm, fields, and strawberry wine, which make us think of southern living. This song also holds universal relevance because it’s about young love and growing up. Personification is used in the lines, “The hot July moon saw everything” and “There’s nothing time hasn’t touched”. Strawberry wine is also used throughout the entire song to represent how to this girl, her summer love was sweet like strawberries while is lasted, but bitter like wine when the boy had to leave her. Deana uses irony and oxymoron in this song when putting together “Strawberry wine and seventeen” because seventeen year olds aren’t supposed to be drinking, but the statement does make sense due to the symbolism of strawberry wine. Along with all these literary devices, she uses figurative language a lot. “I was thirsting for knowledge” and “my first taste of love” are both examples of figurative language because they make sense, but they are not meant to be taken literally. Deana Carter used many literary devices in “Strawberry Wine”, which only made the song more lively and appealing, both mentally and acoustically.

In summary, Carter depicts a young summer romance that’s easy for any listener to understand and relate to. Through figurative language, the person listening to this song can visualize what she’s saying. The key poetic device that Deana uses in this song is definitely symbolism. Strawberry wine is the ultimate symbol because the meaning is both paradoxical and logical. Deana Carter’s message in this song is that we will always remember the things that meant the most to us and sometimes loss can teach us how to grow and move on in our lives.