Analysis of Strawberry Wine by Deana Carter

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What is the meaning of passion? Passion can be described in many different ways. According to Webster's Dictionary, passion is defined as any powerful or compelling emotion, feeling, or strong sexual desire. Deana Carter produced a song in 1995 called "Strawberry Wine". She is refers to her occurrence with passion. In the song, she describes it as being like strawberry wine. She begins by explaining how the love developed, with whom, and finishes with the ending that most all of us have, the sentiment of remembrance and recollection.

Stanza one, line one, tells us that the story is set in the south, because he is working on a farm. It also mentions the banks of a river and a well-beaten path, which tells me that it was without a doubt in the country. I would say that it is set in modern day time because the young man is a college student.

There are three points that would lead us to believe that it was set in the summertime. First, there was green on the vines. Next, part of the chorus tells us that it was in July. Third, he had to leave in September.

The song contains two characters, the narrator and a young man. The narrator is a young woman around the age of seventeen, according to the chorus of the song. Stanza 1, line three, signifies that she feels as though she is caught somewhere between a woman and a child. It is almost as if she still feels like a child. Yet on the other hand, she is having these feelings of passion that she knows only a woman should be feeling. In the beginning, the narrator could be described as curious, vulnerable, and inquisitive. I feel that it would be safe to say that she has probably been sheltered considering that she lived on a farm with her grandpa. Most young girls who live out on a farm would not usually have the option of hanging out in town with their friends. The young man is a college student, obviously older than she is, and full of knowledge, according to the first stanza. In the end, she seems as though she is feeling much older and sad remembering back. The young man is working on her grandpa's farm as a farm hand so he must be a hard worker. I would say that he is probably more sexually and mentally advanced than she is just from knowing that he is a college student. He has had the chance to mingle with the opposite sex and to hang out with others.

Stanza one indicates that she is really thirsting for knowledge concerning the opposite sex and he just happens to have it all. One summer they get restless and find the love that she has been so curious about. It happened on the banks of a river and the hot July moon saw it all. She did not give us any of the intimate details leading up to the actual heat. However, according to stanza one-lines four and five, we can gather that he definitely delivered the knowledge that she had been thirsting for. In September, he had to leave and this was her biggest fear. According to stanza two, once he left they exchanged a few cards, letters, and one long distance call and the relationship was over. We know this because line four states that they drifted away like the leaves in the fall. Stanza three leads us to the idea that several years have passed. The fields have all grown over and time has taken its toll on everything. According to stanza two, lines five and six, she goes back to visit the place year after year just to recall how sweet the feeling of true love actually was. She tells us that she has been missing it so much. She finds herself wondering if this feeling of absence and loss was really because of him or if it was just simply the loss of her innocence.

The chorus of the song reads, "My first taste of love, oh bittersweet, the green on the vine, like strawberry wine". Every woman who has ever experienced her first taste of love could definitely describe it as bittersweet. Whether it was a good or bad experience, it would still be bittersweet because it was the first. Why she actually decides to compare it to strawberry wine is unclear. Maybe the strawberry wine was responsible for the development of the love. I believe she produced this song because she knew that every woman alive would be able to relate to it in one way or another. Even though I feel that the song was written to relate to young women, I believe that a young man could relate in the same way. Have your ever thought back and reminisced about your first taste of love as Deana did? How would your first bittersweet compare to her?