Stairway to Heaven's Deepest Line

Stairway to Heaven is an intricate poem with several meanings of depth. It uses expressive and vivid figurative language devices, such as personification and extended metaphors, to create vibrant imagery in the audience's mind. Sound devices such as assonance, alliteration and refrains and stressed and unstressed syllables are used to create slight differences in the meter of the poem.

However, only when scrutinising this poem can we truly see the actual complexity of this ballad. In fact, while approaching this poem face on, you may have a small giggle at certain verses of the poem, such as "Oh yeah, yeah, yeah" as saying these out load sounds very corny, but in actuality, such phrases sometimes are used to cover up certain lines of verse that hint largely at the deeper meaning. This is especially seen in one such verse in the popular 70's song "Stairway to Heaven"

The line I'm specifically talking about is located in the 4th stanza of the song, and is the 5th line of verse. It reads, " Remember laughter ". Now, looking at this phrase, listeners can interpret various different ideas, however looking closely at what tis verse may mean towards the extended metaphor, then the significance you get is immensely crucial to piecing together bits and pieces of this song.

Before i move on to actually deciphering this verse, let me re-iterate the extended metaphor of this piece of writing

Robert Plant himself has stated that he has no clue what the actual true meaning fo this song really is.

Once he regarded the song as a relative of his. At an interview in a show call "Q" a CBC, he stated “I don’t know, It’s like a relative of mine somewhere. He’s by the sea somewhere, got his hands behind his head and he’s lying back in the sand going ‘Love me!'”

Fortunately, Gabe and I have poured hours into decoding the extended metaphor of this poem. From drawing connections from various poems to analysing even the word "the", we have collected our evidence and come to a conclusion that this songs extended metaphor is:

Money will not buy happiness, but rather make you sadder

as you search for it...

Yes... after a lengthy study of the poem, the extended metaphor is "Money =x= Happiness"

However as underwhelming as it seems, it is actually quite intricate.

You see, some parts that support the extended metaphor are seen in plain sight, while others take lots of analysing to piece together, and this is what i find so amazing about "Stairway to Heaven". De-ciphering this poem is more than just about connecting the dots, it's about asking those questions, comparing those lines of coding and spending hours on end thinking, 'What does this mean?" Well... we've got the answer...

At least, we think so...

Now, I don't want this blog becoming a 5000 page thesis on a mere 8 stanzas of writing so, I'll sum up our theories.

This lady is the personification of a modern society that thrives on a lust for material happiness. She is using her wealth to buy an excessive amount of amenities in hope that having all that she wants will provide her with satisfaction and hence will lead her to being happy and in utopia. However our narrator objects this woman's claims, attempting to persuade her to swap to natural happiness and joy with phrases like, "the piper will lead us to reason" and "Yes there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run, there's still time to change the road your on"

Now I'm done dilly-dallying, let's cut to the chase, the juicy bit.

The line "Remember laughter...". It's a vital line many of us overlook. From reading the rest of this stanza however, we can truly see why it is regarded this crucial. Previous lines of this verse portray that it is gossiped through society that if all the world spreads true happiness, joy, kindness and contentment, then our happiness will reveal the truth that material happiness shall not provide satisfaction, and that all the world will be filled with laughter and joy.

Now where does this line come into effect?

The narrator has added this line, "remember laughter" to show that the lady, in pursuit of her material utopia, has forgotten the basic pleasures and enjoyments, gained by celebrating the small things and laughing off life, content and accepting impermanence.

It's such a deep and sad verse!

Its quite literally the narrator, talking the the woman climbing the money stairs and saying "Remember Laughter... You've lost it searching for a happiness that you will never find... a material happiness that in the end, won't even satisfy your joy, regardless of how hard it is to achieve".

I'll leave you with a question, are you truly happy? Do you remember those small joys that you get from celebrating even the smallest feats?

And are you buying your stairway to heaven?

Till next time, your hosts Viv and Gabe signing out....