This list was compiled using my personal playlists for classes and lots and lots of suggestions from the AP Listserve.

The links go to iTunes.

Literary Terms

Tone

“The Trooper” – Iron Maiden

“When the Tigers Broke Free” – Pink Floyd

“Another Brick in the Wall” – Pink Floyd

“The House that Built Me” – Miranda Lambert

Dichotomy

“Honey Bee” – Blake Shelton

Irony

“White Horse” – Taylor Swift

“The House that Built Me” – Miranda Lambert

“The Trees” – Rush

Alliteration

“The Sound of Silence” – Simon & Garfunkel

“Knee Deep” – Zac Brown

Theme

“Small Print” – Muse

“Eleanor Rigby” – The Beatles

Hero Archetype

“Hero” – Mariah Carey

“We Don’t Need Another Hero” – Tina Turner

“White Horse” – Taylor Swift (failed quest)

“Patterns” – Simon & Garfunkel

Mythology & Religion

“The Melting Point of Wax” – Thrice  (Icarus)

The Bible

“Turn, Turn, Turn” by The Byrds (Ecclesiastes)

“40” – U2 (Psalms 40)

Books

Memoir

“The Book of My Life” – Sting

War Literature

“Machine Gun” – Hendrix

“One” – Metallica

1984

“2+2=5” – Radiohead

“Sex Crimes” – The Eurythmics

“1984” – David Bowie

A Brave New World
“Brave New World” – Iron Maiden

The Catcher in the Rye

“Who Wrote Holden Caulfield” – Green Day

Death of a Salesman  

“Glory Days” – Bruce Springsteen

Dr. Faustus

“Wrapped Around Your Finger” – The Police

For Whom the Bell Tolls

“For Whom the Bell Tolls” – Metallica

Go Ask Alice

“White Rabbit” – Jefferson Airplane

Grapes of Wrath

“The Ghost of Tom Joad” – Bruce Springsteen or Rage Against the Machine

Henderson the Rain King

“Rain King” – Counting Crows

The Hobbit

“Misty Mountain Hop” and “Ramble On” – Led Zeppelin

Lolita

“Don’t Stand so Close to Me” – The Police

The Lord of the Rings trilogy

“Battle of Evermore” – Led Zeppelin

My Antonia

“My Antonia” – Emmylou Harris

A Prayer for Owen Meany

“Goodbye Sky Harbor” – Jimmy Eat World

“Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

“Rime of the Ancient Mariner” – Iron Maiden

Romeo and Juliet

“Romeo and Juliet” – Dire Straits

“Romeo and Juliet” – Indigo Girls

The Stranger

“Shooting an Arab” – The Cure

Tess of the D’Urbervilles

“All I Know” – Art Garfunkel

Wuthering Heights

“Wuthering Heights” – Kate Bush

“Wuthering Heights” – Pat Benatar

Poetry & Short Stories

Ballads

“Ode To Billy Joe” – Ike and Tina Turner

also recorded by Sinead O’Connor, Nancy Wilson, Patty Smyth, Ashley Gearing, and many, many more

“Ballad of Billy the Kid” – Billy Joel
“The Ballad of Barbara Allan”
“Barbara Allen” – Art Garfunkel – also recorded by Pete Seeger and Joan Baez, among others

A Rose for Emily

“To the End” – My Chemical Romance

“One Art” – poem by Elizabeth Bishop
“The Art of Losing (One Art)” – David Broza

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” poem by T.S. Eliot
“Dover Beach” – The Bangles

“Afternoons & Coffeespoons” by the Crash Test Dummies

“Richard Cory” poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson

“Richard Cory” by Paul Simon

And here is a Wikipedia list, alphabetical by song title, aligning music with literature.