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.
