Stairway to Heaven Songwriting Zero in on the lyrics for deeper
meaning. Robert Plant has a lot going on in his lyrics.
Curiously, few of the verses rhyme. Plant uses assonance—rhyming
of vowel sounds—and a bit of true rhyme, first rarely but then
with increasing frequency as he reaches the big finale of the
song. A good example of assonance appears in the first stanza:
"When she gets there she knows / If the stores are all closed,"
where both "knows" and "closed" have long "o" sounds. Coming to
the third stanza without making any other use of assonance or
rhyme, Plant gives us: And it's whispered that soon If we all
call the tune Then the piper will lead us to reason And a new
day will dawn For those who stand long Here "soon" and "tune"
obviously rhyme, and "long" is pronounced as "lawn" to rhyme
with "dawn." The use of rhyme here mirrors the kind of voice
that Plant is putting on. It's more assertive and the poetry of
using rhyme makes these lines seem absolute or truthful. In
Plant's final verse, followin