Limelight imagery analysis

The song "limelight" is one of the Canadian band Rush's most famous and popular song. The song is sung about the struggles of life in the context of life being a theatrical production in the style of Jaques from the Shakespeare play, "As You Like It". The band Rush is not famous for being especially lyrically stong although they actuallky are. Lyricist Neil Peart uses a variety of poetic devices to paint a picture with words throughout the Rush catalogue. This song is no exception with its use of imagery to adhere to the senses and allow the listener to delve into the song.Examples of this are as such in the line "In touch with some reality beyond the gilded cage." The word gilded usually refers to being gilded with a small amount of gold in order to give the appearance of the product actually being gold. This illustrates in your mind the sight of a gilded cage which may at first seem enticing but after further inspection you will realize the cage (being captive to a set way) is not all that it is supposed to be. Another line is "living in a fisheye lens, caught in the camera eye, I have no heart to lie" This appeals once again to the sense of sight and allows you to see in your mind being seen through a "fisheye lens" or a camera.