A Rhetorical Analysis of Harry Styles' "Two Ghosts"- Katrina Furgeson

 

As the first solo man on the cover of Vogue Magazine, Harry Styles is increasingly becoming known as more than the former boyband member. In his first solo album, self-titled Harry Styles, the former One Direction member tells a story of a couple falling out of love. In the song "Two Ghosts", Styles uses idiom and symbolism to express the somber tone of the piece. 

Styles exaggerates his experiences to share with his listeners the distance between himself and his partner. He conveys these feelings in the lines, "Tongue-tied like we've never known, Telling those stories we already told, 'Cause we don't say what we really mean." By using tongue-tied to imply that the couple is finding it hard to speak to each other, Styles reveals how upset he is that the relationship is not working out. By exaggerating reality, it exposes how deeply he feels about this upset, and displays his grief of the relationship coming to an end.  

Styles' use of a ghost to symbolize his and his partner's feelings perfectly enhances the tone of the song. The chorus of the song describes the two, "We're not who we used to be, We're not who we used to be, We're just two ghosts standing in the place of you and me." Using ghosts to symbolize their emptiness and falling out of love sets the somber tone. A ghost is heavily connected to the idea of death, which expands the idea of their feelings for each other dying. The overall loss presented in the peice brings sadness and melancholy which accentuates the death of this relationship.