Gold Mine Gutted

In the Bright Eyes song "Gold Mine Gutted," they use a variety of very descriptive and figurative language. In "The Everyday Writer," 39d its offered that, "Figurative language, or figures of speech, paints pictures in readers minds, allowing readers to "see" a point readily and clearly. Far from being a frill, such language is crucial to understanding."Lines like "hooded sweatshirt walk," is a figure of speech that implies a condition and gives insight into what the walk was like and what was happening (as one reads the following lines.) Figurative language does help the reader or listener paint an image of whats going on and really helps create meaning.

It was Don Delillo, whiskey, me
And a blinking midnight clock
Speakers on a tv stand
Just a turntable to watch
And the smoke came out our mouths
On all those hooded sweatshirt walks
We were a stroke of luck
We were a goldmine and they gutted us

And from the sidelines
You see me run
Until I'm out of breath
Living the good life
I left for dead
The sorrowful midwest
Well, I did my best
To keep my head

It was grass stained jeans and incompletes
And a girl from class to touch
But you think about yourself too much
And you ruin who you love
Well, all these claims at consciousness
My stray dog freedom
Let's have a nice clean cut
Like a bag we buy and divvy up

And from the sidelines
I see you run
Until you're out of breath.
And all those white lines that sped us up
We hurry to our death
Well, I lagged behind
So you got ahead