Macias, Prescilla
Prof. Conde
ENC 1102 9am 11 April 2016 Fireflies by Owl City portrays to various subjects such as sleep, dreams and fantasies. In this song the artist mentions his incapability to have a good night’s rest, however, he imagines so much. The artist has insomnia and has always had a tough time falling asleep for as long as he can remember. He wanted to sing about his inability to sleep in a whimsical way that portrayed the condition as lighthearted and almost more of a 'blessing' than a curse. It's ironic that when sleep and him cannot bring themselves to meet is often when inspiration strikes hardest to the artist. When asked about this song the artist mentioned "I was up late and in the basement one night when I wrote Fireflies. I was sitting at the keyboard just fooling around, not really trying to write anything. Over the next couple of hours that song came together in the most natural way. I can't explain it but it almost wrote itself.” In the first verse, he sings “You would not believe your eyes if ten million fireflies lit up the world as I fell asleep.” This line is an example of a hyperbole. The singer is trying to allow you to relate to how many fireflies there actually are. He does this by greatly over exaggerating the quantity of the fireflies and how much light they're giving off. In your mind, when you think of ten million, you're picturing a ridiculous amount. The diameter of Earth is 7,918 miles, so that's about 42 million feet across. For something to be able to light up the entire world, it'd have to be extremely bright. Obviously, we know that Adam Young isn't actually seeing ten million fireflies, and their light is nowhere near strong enough to light up the world. However, this amplification of the truth, makes the listener realize that the singer is showing you just how many fireflies he was