
“Then” Brad Paisley
Shifting from the beginning of the relationship to the future in the song “Then” Brad Paisley uses exaggerating hyperbole, loving repetition, and powerful imagery to portray the deep feelings he has towards his future wife from the time they “first met” Paisley had always known he loved this girl ever since the first night they had met because she had him “mesmerized”
Through the use of hyperbole, Brad Paisley is capable in showing that at the end of their first date they were “taking forty-five minutes to kiss goodnight” This is over exaggerated to show how much that they did not want to leave each other after that date. Also, by over exaggerating and saying “and now your my whole life” is him showing that most of the time she is on his mind and anything he will ever think about. But, obviously, no one can be there whole world considering other things that are happening in one’s life.
The use of repetition is apparent through the song. Paisley cannot stress enough how much he loves this girl. The line “And I thought I loved you then” is written in every verse because the more memories he makes with this girl makes him change his mind and re-think his feelings which are constantly growing stronger and stronger. Another poetic device in the line “And now you're my whole life/now you're my whole world” is repetition because it is repeated multiple times throughout the song. Paisley did this to show just how important and how much he thinks and dreams of her on a daily basis.
Imagery is a powerful part of the song that really shows the listener the setting of the song. When they are under “the front porch light” you get the images of them in your head standing under the porch light not wanting to apart from each other. He brought her back to the spot they met and “there were people around, but I didn't care/Got down on one knee right there once again” This gives you the image of them back at the spot the had first met now getting engaged. Imagery captures the pictures of key moments in their relationship to show how much Paisley loves this girl and what the future brings for them.
Brad Paisley, in “Then”, uses exaggerated hyperbole, loving repetition, and powerful imagery showing the listeners how powerful his love from the first time he had met this girl until forever. His love is “stronger than it's ever been” because he is with the girl of his dreams and it keeps getting stronger and stronger.
You had me mesmerized
And three weeks later, in the front porch light
taking forty-five minutes to kiss goodnight
I hadn't told you yet
but I thought I loved you then
Chorus
And now you're my whole life
now you're my whole world
I just can't believe the way I feel about you, girl
Like a river meets the sea,
stronger than it's ever been.
We've come so far since that day
And I thought I loved you then
And i remember, taking you back to right where I first met you,
You were so surprised
There were people around, but I didn't care
Got down on one knee right there once again,
I thought I loved you then
Chorus
And now you're my whole life
now you're my whole world
I just can't believe the way I feel about you, girl
Like a river meets the sea,
stronger than it's ever been.
We've come so far since that day
And I thought I loved you then
I could just see you, with a baby on the way
And I could just see you, when your hair is turning gray
What I can't see is how I'm ever gonna love you more
But I've said that before
And now you're my whole life
now you're my whole world
I just can't believe the way I feel about you, girl
We'll look back someday, at this moment that we're in
And I'll look at you and say
And I thought I loved you then
And I thought I loved you then