#and song analysis is like poetry analysis in a way

[a-wild-things-rambles]

hometown hypocrisy

and the bloods beating down in the city tonight and no-one will ever sympathize with our plight try to get up, but we just fall down trying to escape this damn hometown

and we got fires burning in our souls and the scars to prove it, what do you know but the rains putting us out drowning our sparks and our shouts

and the fogs setting in rain against my skin and the sky's beating me down wandering my hometown and the roads gotten twisted the old life's gone, i missed it guess it is true, you can never go home again

and the bloods beating down in the city tonight and no-one will ever sympathize with our plight try to get up, but we just fall down trying to escape this damn hometown

and blood seeping through our clothes violence begets violence, don't ya know but these fists are my hometown pride gritted teeth and bloodshot eyes

and the fogs setting in rain against my skin and the sky's beating me down wandering my hometown and the roads gotten twisted the old life's gone, i missed it guess it is true, you can never go home again

'and the bloods beating down' is the 2nd chorus/prechorus [look i changed the structure but im not editing my analysis i dont want it to get longer]

'and the fogs setting in' is the [main]chorus [planned to use a diffrent tone to musicaly distinguish it from teh verses and pre/2nd chorus][is in italics]

and 'we got fires' is teh 1st verse and 'blood seeping thru our clothes' is the second

NOTE: should be spoken or sung for optimal beat with contractions, but for readability has been mostly uncontracted. also idk how to spell what do you know contracted right.

the chorus is much later in the singers life than the pre chorus & the two verses, the hypocrisy is that the singer wants to both escape and go back to his hometown.

the younger singer always uses plural, to symbolize community, until 'these fists are my hometown pride' almost at the end. he refutes the cycle of violence by owning his violence as part of himself- his link to his hometown.

in addition, he has become the active perpetrator of violence, [previous references were 'we all fall down' [something else to him] and 'we got the scars to prove it' which is implied to be violence perpetrated unknowingly to each other because of 'fires burning in our souls'- when they get close, they hurt each other unintentionally] he now links his sense of self to violence, and thus when he loses his ability to do violence, he loses his self, and his link to his hometown, becoming the older singer

but by doing this he also will inevitably refute his hometown, by linking it intrinsically to violence, becoming the older singer who sings the chorus when he can no longer have that link to his self or his hometown because he can no longer do violence [his inability shown by him being 'beaten down' by the rain/oppressive atmosphere], i did want to expand on this, writing more verses to show the fall and how he ended up as the chorus person but it didnt work. heres the scrapped third verse

but soon those fists turned weak what do you know? you aint at your peak stress and violence aint good for your heart and you find that your bodys now falling apart

it can also be seen as by growing up to become a perpetrator and someone with power, he is now distant from his people and community, the solidarity is formed from their shared victimhood so when he steps out of that/rejects it, he loses the community [also becoming part of the violent cycle means getting rejected] [also the chorus says 'twisted road' we dont know what happened to make him fall, thats up to the readers interpretation] [transmasc journey of realizing your masculinity then becoming ostracised][or disability]

"guess its true, you can never go home again" is the only exception to the rhyming scheme, and it gives it emphasis, it was more noticeable before the chorus was squished together [previously each half line was its own line until 'guess its true'] fuck it it can take up space on yalls dashboards its getting split again

'bloodshot eyes' can be interpreted many different ways, from crying to injury to rage, each suggesting different meanings and affecting the text in diffrent ways

[moinsbienquekaworu]

i am about to sleep but i wanted to ask what your favorite poem is? will you tell me about it? what you love and why it’s your favorite? do you like any of its translations? i love you. i hope you have a good day 🥰

(⁠〒⁠﹏⁠〒⁠) beloved thank you for the question!!! As per usual I am incapable of choosing just one of a thing, so I actually have two favourite poems, one in french and one in english (because poetry in french and in english can be pretty different since the codes and models and expectations aren't always the same!) They're the two poems I can recite and know by heart haha.

The english one is Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost. I really like the last stanza (like everyone else) but also just the way when you say it out loud it does feel like a quiet moment watching the snow fall all on your own. I found it recently accompanying a fic (two different fics actually but the second time I knew it) and it entranced me!

The french one is Chanson d'Automne by Paul Verlaine. It's a classic in France, some of its lines were used as a signal for saboteurs during WWII and there's an urban legend it was used to signal the landing in Normandy. I personally had to learn it by heart in primary school (I think in 4th grade?) and it just stuck with me. I like it for the way it feels to me and the images it evokes, but also just because it was the first poem I learnt by heart and being able to recite a poem is an easily overlooked comfort of life (insert those posts and quotes about art being vital and what we need to be able to turn to in dark or light times)

Other poems I like include Remords Posthume and L'Albatros by Baudelaire, Le Dormeur du Val by Rimbaud, Le Déserteur and Je Voudrais Pas Crever by Boris Vian, Funeral Blues by W. H. Auden, and Mad Girl's Love Song by Sylvia Plath. The french ones I studied in school, and I found the english ones on my own (I feel like I found both in Johnlock fics?? but I might be wrong about Funeral Blues, it's been years) I included english translations where I could for the french ones, and they're not necessarily incredible but they should let you get the vibe. If one of them speaks to you I can try to explain what makes it tick! My personal anecdotes with those because that's half the fun: we had to analyse Remords Posthume for literature class with my best friend K, and what's really cool about it is the last line, "et le ver rongera ta peau comme un remords", because it plays on the homonymy between ver, the worm, and vers, the line of poetry, meaning she will be devoured physically by worms since she'll be dead but also that his verses, his poem, will make her feel remorse; I like the albatross analogy because I was a weird kid who felt comfortable with books but not with my peers; Le Dormeur du Val is extremely extremely sad and beautiful and I think Rimbaud was a very interesting guy; technically Le Déserteur is a song and not a poem but I first saw the text without knowing that so for me it's a poem forever now, and I love talking about the original versus final ending thing; the YouTube channel Le Mock did an excellent reading of Je Voudrais Pas Crever and it's a jewel, I love it so so much; Funeral Blues was the first english poem I ever liked (or maybe read honestly) and I wrote it on the cover of my 10th grade english notebook (because the teacher was great and said that if we forgot to do our homework he wouldn't punish us if we could recite a poem for him, so I wrote it down and tried to learn if by heart in case I forgot my homework); and Mad Girl's Love Song features in a fic I read a few weeks ago and I just think it's neat. I probably forgot some but those are the ones I remember right now (edit: ADA LIMÓN!! I FORGOT ADA LIMÓN!!! Accident Report in the Tall, Tall Weeds (the I can't help it, I love the way men love poem) hit me in the chest the first time I read it and it's so so good)

My favourites (and most of the poems I like actually) are pretty popular because I'm not really into poetry that much on my own. I get attached to poems once I see how they work inside and analyse them, but I don't sit down and decide to analyse some poem from Les Fleurs du Mal at random because it feels like homework, and I don't go looking for poetry because I'm very hit or miss (I get bored at long winded descriptions in those 4-part 7-pages poems and a lot of things trip up my instinctual Pretentiousness Radar™, and while it's not necessarily accurate it does turn me off poems). So I just stay with the basics, but that's fine, because the comfort of carrying poems with you is there whatever the poem is y'know?

Also question, do americans learn poetry in school? I assume you must analyse some in literature class, but I don't know if you learn poems when you're young. I know we also do lots of La Fontaine's Fables, though I personally never did, but learning poems to recite in primary school is a thing almost everyone has done here I think.

[081098]

i cannot explain this but haru haru (2008) -> run (2015) -> nectar (2024)

[soracities]

what are your suggestions for starter poetry for people who dont have strong reading/analysis backgrounds

I've answered this a few times so I'm going to compile and expand them all into one post here.

I think if you haven't read much poetry before or aren't sure of your own tastes yet, then poetry anthologies are a great place to start: many of them will have a unifying theme so you can hone in based on a subject that interests you, or pick your way through something more general. I haven't read all of the ones below, but I have read most of them; the rest I came across in my own readings and added to my list either because I like the concept or am familiar with the editor(s) / their work:

Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times (ed. Nick Astley) & Being Alive: The Sequel to Staying Alive (there's two more books in this series, but I'm recommending these two just because it's where I started)

The Rattlebag (ed. Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes)

The Ecco Anthology of International Poetry (ed. Ilya Kaminsky & Susan Harris)

The Essential Haiku, Versions of Basho, Buson and Issa (ed. Robert Hass)

A Book of Luminous Things (ed. Czesław Miłosz )

Now and Then: The Poet's Choice Columns by Robert Hass (this may be a good place to start if you're also looking for commentary on the poems themselves)

Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your World(ed. Pádraig Ó'Tuama)

African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song (ed. Kevin Young)

The Art of Losing: Poems of Grief and Healing (ed. Kevin Young)

Lifelines: Letters from Famous People about their Favourite Poems

The following lists are authors I love in one regard or another and is a small mix of different styles / time periods which I think are still fairly accessible regardless of what your reading background is! It's be no means exhaustice but hopefully it gives you even just a small glimpse of the range that's available so you can branch off and explore for yourself if any particular work speaks to you.

But in any case, for individual collections, I would try:

anything by Sara Teasdale

Devotions / Wild Geese / Felicity by Mary Oliver

Selected Poems and Prose by Christina Rossetti

Collected Poems by Langston Hughes

Where the Sidewalk Endsby Shel Silverstein

Morning Haiku by Sonia Sanchez

Revolutionary Letters, Diane di Prima

Concerning the Book That Is the Body of the Beloved by Gregory Orr

Rose: Poems by Li-Young Lee

A Red Cherry on a White-Tiled Floor / Barefoot Souls by Maram al-Masri

Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky

Tell Me: Poems / What is This Thing Called Love? by Kim Addonizio

The Trouble with Poetry by Billy Collins (Billy Collins is THE go-to for accessible / beginner poetry in my view so I think any of his collections would probably do)

Crush by Richard Siken

Rapture / The World's Wife by Carol Ann Duffy

The War Works Hard by Dunya Mikhail

Selected Poems by Walt Whitman

View with a Grain of Sand by Wislawa Szymborska

Collected Poems by Vasko Popa

Under Milkwood by Dylan Thomas (this is a play, but Thomas is a poet and the language & structure is definitely poetic to me)

Bright Dead Things: Poems by Ada Limón

Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth by Warsan Shire,

Nostalgia, My Enemy: Selected Poems by Saadi Youssef

As for individual poems:

“Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver

[Dear The Vatican] erasure poem by Pádraig Ó'Tuama // "The Pedagogy of Conflict"

"Good Bones" by Maggie Smith

"The Author Writes the First Draft of His Weddings Vows (An erasure of Virginia Woolf's suicide letter to her husband, Leonard)" by Hanif Abdurraqib

"I Can Tell You a Story" by Chuck Carlise

"The Sciences Sing a Lullabye" by Albert Goldbarth

"One Last Poem for Richard" by Sandra Cisneros

"We Lived Happily During the War" by Ilya Kaminsky

“I’m Explaining a Few Things”by Pablo Neruda

"Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" //"Nothing Gold Can Stay"//"Out, Out--" by Robert Frost

"Tablets: I // II // III"by Dunya Mikhail

"What Were They Like?" by Denise Levertov

"Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden,

"The Patience of Ordinary Things" by Pat Schneider

“I, too” // "The Negro Speaks of Rivers” // "Harlem” // “Theme for English B” by Langston Hughes

“The Mower” // "The Trees" // "High Windows" by Philip Larkin

“The Leash” // “Love Poem with Apologies for My Appearance” // "Downhearted" by Ada Limón

“The Flea” by John Donne

"The Last Rose of Summer" by Thomas Moore

"Beauty" // "Please don't" // "How it Adds Up" by Tony Hoagland

“My Friend Yeshi” by Alice Walker

"De Humanis Corporis Fabrica"byJohn Burnside

“What Do Women Want?” // “For Desire” // "Stolen Moments" // "The Numbers" by Kim Addonizio

“Hummingbird” // "For Tess" by Raymond Carver

"The Two-Headed Calf" by Laura Gilpin

“Bleecker Street, Summer” by Derek Walcott

“Dirge Without Music” // "What Lips My Lips Have Kissed" by Edna St. Vincent Millay

“Digging” // “Mid-Term Break” // “The Rain Stick” // "Blackberry Picking" // "Twice Shy" by Seamus Heaney

“Dulce Et Decorum Est”by Wilfred Owen

“Notes from a Nonexistent Himalayan Expedition”by Wislawa Szymborska

"Hour" //"Medusa" byCarol Ann Duffy

“The More Loving One” // “Musée des Beaux Arts” by W.H. Auden

“Small Kindnesses” // "Feeding the Worms" by Danusha Laméris

"Down by the Salley Gardens” // “The Stolen Child” by W.B. Yeats

"The Thing Is" by Ellen Bass

"The Last Love Letter from an Entymologist" by Jared Singer

"[i like my body when it is with your]" by e.e. cummings

"Try to Praise the Mutilated World" by Adam Zagajewski

"The Cinnamon Peeler" by Michael Ondaatje

"Last Night I Dreamed I Made Myself" by Paige Lewis

"A Dream Within a Dream" // "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe (highly recommend reading the last one out loud or listening to it recited)

"Ars Poetica?" // "Encounter" // "A Song on the End of the World"by Czeslaw Milosz

"Wandering Around an Albequerque Airport Terminal” // "Two Countries” // "Kindness” by Naoimi Shihab Nye

"Slow Dance” by Matthew Dickman

"The Archipelago of Kisses" // "The Quiet World" by Jeffrey McDaniel

"Mimesis" by Fady Joudah

"The Great Fires" // "The Forgotten Dialect of the Heart" // "Failing and Flying" by Jack Gilbert

"The Mermaid" // "Virtuosi" by Lisel Mueller

"Macrophobia (Fear of Waiting)" by Jamaal May

"Someday I'll Love Ocean Vuong" by Ocean Vuong

"Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou

I would also recommend spending some times with essays, interviews, or other non-fiction, creative or otherwise (especially by other poets) if you want to broaden and improve how you read poetry; they can help give you a wider idea of the landscape behind and beyond the actual poems themselves, or even just let you acquaint yourself with how particular writers see and describe things in the world around them. The following are some of my favourites:

Upstream: Essays by Mary Oliver

"Theory and Play of the Duende" by Federico García Lorca

"The White Bird" and "Some Notes on Song" by John Berger

In That Great River: A Notebook by Anna Kamienska

A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib

The Book of Delights by Ross Gay

"Of Strangeness That Wakes Us" and "Still Dancing: An Interview with Ilya Kaminsky" by Ilya Kaminsky

"The Sentence is a Lonely Place" by Garielle Lutz

Still Life with Oysters and Lemon by Mark Doty

Paris, When It's Naked by Etel Adnan

[r1999isgonnakillmeoneday]

i have been getting a tad bit too obsessed with reverse 1999 lately and compiled some stuff around might edit it if i find more

this yapping session will be abt sonetto

her name is deprived from a fourteen line poetry called the Sonnet while also having the meaning of “little song or sound’

her udimo is a dog called Cirneco Dell’Etna a breed that originated from italy as stated in her storyboard

she doesn't know her date of birth and uses the date of when she was adopted by the foundation as her birthday (January 10th)

she's 16 yrs old

she's speculated to be 5'3 ft or 160 cm

her compliments are so sincere that people are often too shy to face her (the rizzler)

back in SPDM she was worried about vertin's arcane skill exams and tutored her privately

a helper in the SPDM once found a challenge letter with pink heart patterns in the trash bin (might imply that the letter was from matilda to sonetto)

sonetto is an artist as stated in her 80% bond story and glassfeder's description

sonetto likes collecting newspapers and treasures them

every year she gets a present from vertin on her birthday which is mostly a collection of poems

it’s implied (this is really obvious) that she has a crush on the timekeeper/Vertin and has also been implied sonetto's va during the reddit Q&A

on her medal she has an embroidered dog on it (i just thought this was cute)

since she doesn't know much about the outside world or her culture she doesn't see anything wrong with pineapple pizza or gelato pizza for that matter (april fools and pizza hut collab comic)

she keeps a frog in a jar in her room

time for voiceline analysis

"Sempre caro mi fu quest'ermo colle.”

this quote is derived from the poem L’Infinito by Giacomo Leopardi in the autumn of 1819 the poem is meant to show how he yearns to travel beyond his restrictive hometown of Recanati and experience more of the world that he studied.

this can also show the way sonetto might have wished to see the outside world just as she studied on the textbooks

"Regna sereno intenso ed infinito.”

a line from the poem Mezzogiorno Alpino written after a short stay in Courmayeur, Giosuè Carducci reflects on the clear Alpine landscape, with the aim of highlighting the power of nature.

the trees stood as if to enjoy the pleasure of the sunlight penetrating their branches, absolute silence dominates, broken only by the rustling of the river water.

this might show how much interest and adoration sonetto shows towards things outside of the foundation

“So long lives this and this gives power to thee.”

a line from the famous poem Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare, where he used this poem to praise the beauty of his beloved where their beauty is more preferable than a hot summer day. theres a bit of a change in the lines "So long lives this and this gives life to thee." the original line used life instead of power, it wouldn't really make sense if they used life for a buffer it would've been more of a healing skill so i get it

(i actually don't know what link this has towards sonetto soo fun fact sonnet 18 was about a man)

"I know the moon and this is an alien city”

the line is derived from the poem A London Thoroughfare 2 A.M by Amy Lowell the meaning of this poem is the feeling of being lost in a busy city, expressing emotions such as loneliness and being overwhelmed and how the only thing familiar to the writer was the moon. (aight im sorry idk how to word this one again another fun fact Amy Lowell is a sapphic and likes to call her muse or lover Lady of the moon)

“Each moment, now night.”

One of the lines from the poem Night by Max Weber (not the sociologist, also not sure on what to write since i dont actually know what the poem actually means i like to think that its about the silence and darkness of the night to show loneliness)

so basically most of these references loneliness and adoration towards the things the writer wrote about which might link to how sonetto might feel adoration and curiosity for the outside world and how she might've felt lonely in the foundation after being closed off from the outside world

(sorry if some words might not make sense and for how many things i've kept blank i failed literature so feel free to correct me im always up for discussion, its funny the way i found out most poets are queer are because of this)

[notyouraryang0dd3ss]

One thing that I personally find super frustrating about Taylor Swift is the way she plays into the myth of the "lone genius" artist. Without collaboration, nothing gets done; or, if it does, it's typically of low or inconsistent quality. And this is true in pretty much ANY field or discipline you can think of: scientific research, advocacy work, etc. The fact that Taylor considers herself above that and persists in selling the myth of her "lone genius" to fans honestly feels malevolent and arrogant to me.

It's truly ridiculous, at the end of the day, that people call her a "poet" and "genius songwriter" for doing everything on her own. I think it really showcases how little she understands when it comes to poetry as an art form. Most legendary writers and poets have multiple people look over their work and go through many stages of the editing process. One of the purposes of art is to communicate, and it's honestly hard to tell sometimes if what you've written has meaning and communicates well outside of your own brain. Peer review is ESSENTIAL for writers.

I think it's also very telling that she considers herself a legendary poet and actively plays into that mythology by circulating the fact that she's distantly related to Emily Dickinson. As someone who has loved and studied literature for many years, I can honestly say that Taylor Swift's closest comparative when it comes to writing is Rupi Kaur. Pinterest poetry, and nothing more. And she has the arrogance to compare herself to one of the most important poets in American literary canon!

I'm reminded of something I heard Hozier say a little while back (I'm forgetting now which interview) about people praising his lyricism as poetry. He essentially called those claims an insult to poetry, stating that there are structural rules in music (rhyme scheme, beat, etc.) that he adheres to that poets don't have to, and that poets can be much more experimental and revolutionary in form (at least when it comes to the written word vs. the sung word). Only someone who genuinely loves poetry would say something like this; plus, it shows that he thinks about the different impacts that form can have on art the messages it communicates. And this, coming from one of the best singer/songwriters currently working!

TS and Hozier aren't writing in the same genre, but I do think it's interesting to compare them as artists in their respective approaches to lyricism. When it comes to Taylor, I think she cares more about the aesthetic of poetry as an art form than the actual art itself. Her writing doesn't actively interact with the literary canon that inspired it, like Hozier's does (or other great lyricists, like Kendrick/Florence/Mitski/Elton). Her writing feels very hollow and devoid of meaning to me.

i just want to say your ask and analysis was so well written 😭 thank you for sending this in!

Completely agree that Swift's solo songwriting genius is a myth. Only 2/16 songs from TTPD were solely credited to her...which means 12.5% of the album is solely her own writing. That is not a songwriting genius. That's just a songwriter. She already knows her fans are completely sold and convinced on her songwriting genius so of course she would drag out her ancestry.com results and up-play her relation to Emily Dickinson to help sell the aesthetic of the album. Everything for her is another marketing strategy. She has no respect for poetry, let alone writing as a craft itself. If you view her behavior through the lens of another writer, it's absolutely abhorrent, but if you view it through the lens of another capitalist, it's absolute genius.

I love your Hozier comparison because Hozier is only 4 months younger than Taylor yet the quality of their lyricism are oceans apart. Hozier has proven himself to be a talented writer time and time again throughout the course of his career, and the best songwriters often know and understand the power of other writing mediums. (BTW I know what Hozier interview you’re talking about! Here it is :))

What makes a great writer is knowing the canon, and knowing other writing mediums very well. It's why the greatest songwriters incorporate canon not only of their own genre and medium but of other texts as well (I'm biased because I listened to Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights today and I know its an adaptation but still its relevant here). Intextuality is the foundation of a great work, and Taylor's work has none.

As the other anon(s) have pointed out, Taylor no longer makes music as art. She makes music for money. I don't think any artist who likes what they do or cares about what they produce would put out an album like that, with lyrics like that, and its content. At least Rupi Kaur's writing impacted poetry in bringing it into the mainstream; I don't exactly understand what ttpd could offer as a text or in pop culture.

TLDR: hozier makes music for people who eat it from the back and then handfeed you grapes afterwards. taylor swift makes music for white girls entering their first day of 7th grade send tweet

[tumb1rprincess]

Okay, we’ve got a little more about Arthur’s background. He used to be a composer and Faroe’s mom died in childbirth. Then who was Tess? He called out that name first before Faroe’s in his nightmare in the last episode. I know Arthur said he didn’t want to talk about it, but we’re still getting the story piece by piece. And jeez, it’s just so sad. He lost Faroe’s mother, then Faroe was all he had, and then he lost her too.

Is there some analysis about music and how it’s one of the major themes of this series? Like, Faroe’s Song being played in key moments, Arthur being a composer before a private investigator, one of the first things John asks Arthur to do when they first meet is play the piano, there’s that other song that I can’t remember, but John’s triggered it a few times, like when Arthur was stealing the keys in the hospital after he woke up from his coma. I feel like it all means something. Maybe once I’m caught up, I’ll have a better idea.

John and Arthur laughing makes me smile, love when my boys get along for once instead of butting heads all the time.

Can we have Arthur recite poetry more often please? I could listen to it for hours

“You want to shave this thing?” Oh my god, I laughed so hard. John can be fucking hilarious when he wants to be.

Okay, the chirping squeaks of that bright glowing salamander thing made it sound really cute, y’all better have some good fanart of this thing.

Does Arthur’s mind jump to Faroe any time he has a near death experience? Seems like a couple of times now, his mind jumps to when she died or we hear her song. And this time around, we hear when Arthur was writing it. I feel like that means something, I just can’t put it into words.

And we end this episode at the bottom of a cave with no way out surrounded by dead bodies and a monster that’s very hungry. Sounds like the next episode is going to be fun.

[crumblinggothicarchitecture]

so I just listened to Florence+the machines Cassandra and ts Cassandra one after the other and like…listen I know i don’t like ts but I’m trying to give her the benefit of the doubt and judge her music without letting my dislike cloud that judgement the worst part about that experience is that it’s genuinely an ok song. Like I write poetry(cringy poetry but it’s a good outlet and over the years I’ve learned the difference between actual poetic devices and just spitting out words that rhyme) and it sounds like something I would write?? Like not in a rude or patronising way but when I need to journal or whatever and I just write out the first thoughts I have and think its an absolute masterpiece and then a few hours later I look at it and go oh so I was delusional lol but by then the emotions have passed and I don’t feel like working on that poem anymore. That’s what her lyrics make me think of😭 like it’s an ok song but the references to her life actual ruined it for me I was trying to enjoy the song but then there’s a line about filling her cell with snakes or smth and it took me out of it immediately I was like ugh this drama again?? Really?? And without the Easter eggs the song is…boring?? Like she sings a portion in the beginning then the rest of the song is lines from that portion rearranged and sang the exact same way again?? And musically like there’s nothing?? With Florence’s Cassandra the music builds and makes you feel something for yourself whereas ts is meant to make you feel smth for her. Florence’s lyrics and melody were like a breath of fresh air after listening to ts. Florence feels like she truly has something to say and embodies that character she’s created for the song idk maybe that’s my own personal bias getting in the way tho sorry for the long ask I just wanted to get your thoughts because I really enjoy your analysis of her music it helps me feel less insane lol❤️❤️

Hello dear!

Hope you are doing well, and if you are not- I hope that you will be doing well soon.

I cannot express enough how awkward the placement of Taylor Swift's "Lore" interjections has become in her music. Sometimes I truly feel like I am listening to two different songs every time she breaks the flow of the music to add so throw-back call to old drama. It's maddening- because on one hand I know that Swift wants people to think she is a great artist- yet she cannot stop acting like a preteen with a popular gossip blog by interjecting cheap-shots at her enemies at every possible turn. It's so- bad.

I am going to explain in a different post by Swift's "confessional" style of music doesn't actually live up to the precedent standard of the confessional poets from the 1960's- just because I want to clear the air in stating the literary difference between what Swift does (writing hit pieces against people she hates) and what true artists do with their confessional poetry (think Slyvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Robert Lowell- Etc.) wherein often the poets express dislike, hatred, messiness of human experience and the like. However, it's a remarkably different tone, and effectiveness, compared to Swift's rapacious, barbed insults towards her fellows in the industry or in life.

She really just can't ever let anything go, huh? It must be terribly stressful and lonely to live like that.

To the point you mention above- on how Swift's writing is so continuously self-reflexive that it no longer elicits any empathy in the audience- so that, yes, we do only feel something "for her." She does this by design. I think you are quite clever to see the rhetorical difference here. Swift is writing for herself- for her own "woe," but other writers are capable of writing from a broader perspective- one that elicits empathy in the audience- that builds on our common humanity. More detail on what I mean here will be posted in the "Cassandra" post soon. :)

Anywho, I quite enjoyed reading your perspective on the two songs. I feel a little bit more based seeing that other people key into the innate difference between the two texts- much like I do.

I enjoy much of Florence's work- though not all of it. I do, however, respect that she, unlike Swift, actually seems to understand the Cassandra archetypal pattern. All I'm really after here- is just some artists who know how to think and create!

Swift's work is just cringy self-effacing "poetry" meant to pull sympathy and pity from people. It's actually giving me second-hand embarrassment. I think everyone at some point in life seeks pity and sympathy from others- yet most people grow out of this impulse somewhere around the teen years. Because it's just dreadfully juvenile to always being seeking pity- it's like when toddlers whine to get something they want. The proper thing to do is to tell the toddler- "Hey, use your words to tell me what you want, because I cannot understand you when you whine like that."

I wish someone would tell Taylor Swift to grow up and stop whining like a toddler who never learned how to properly express themselves.

But- I think you are right. Without the odd interjection of "lore," she wouldn't be able to write a full song. She's completely dependent on her audience's juvenile interest in gossip.

[earlgreytea68]

hi egt

what fob songs scream hiatus to you?

i need to experience emotional ruin real quick

God, there are so many, like, basically allll of Save Rock and Roll feels like them working through the hiatus together (not least because of how it has a higher percentage of Patrick lyrics than usual, probably because of him coming off his solo work). But the hiatus loomed so large for them as this nuclear blast in their relationship, it seems to bleed all through Pete's words (and hence their songs) for years afterward.

And it actually even starts before the hiatus, with the "What a Catch, Donnie" music video, which is the most hiatus-y thing to ever hiatus, Pete going down with his ship while he sends everyone else away to party without him. IT'S ALL SO SYMBOLIC.

And then to title a song on the first Believers Never Die album "From Now On, We Are Enemies." WHAT THE HELL hahahahaha WHAT A CHOICE, PETE WENTZ. (a downward spiral, just a pirouette and I only what what I can't have -- wanting what you can't have is a total hiatus theme for me that shows up a bunch in Pete's lyrics. I have not done an empirical analysis to see if it's a more prevalent theme after the hiatus or not.)

"The Phoenix" has obvious symbolism for their life as a band, raising their career from the ashes, changing themselves up like a remix, wearing their vintage of misery better than everyone else. Also, I love the imagery it has of peace, the "release the doves, surrender love" bit. Waving the white flag and putting down your weapons (in contrast to put on your war paint). But I've always kind of felt like surrender love is one of Pete's deliberate ambiguities: It could be "surrender your love" but it could also be "surrender, love." And Pete doesn't often use "love" as a term of endearment in his lyrics but he called Patrick "love" on stage not too long ago, so, you know, it seems not too outside the realm of possibility to think that these are really lines about reconciliation. It feels like time is running out, so let's surrender and hold tight.

Then there's "Alone Together": I'm outside the door, invite me in so we can go back and play pretend. The image of playing pretend / make-believe with someone also recurs in Pete's poetry, and it's something else I always read as Patrick-coded. Who did he used to "pretend" with for the sake of the shippers? And, of course, starting at the end of the road to ruin sounds like people who have burned everything down but are finding their way back.

I wrote a whole fic about "Where Did the Party Go" :-)

What is there to say about "Miss Missing You" that hasn't already been said? The infamous "hot whiskey eyes" line that honestly can only be about Pete Wentz lol. The imagery of the person you'd take a bullet for being behind the trigger: they have both at separate points in time proclaimed their readiness to take a bullet for the other. The fact that Pete wrote in a poem once before the hiatus I miss you missing me, and this song is I miss missing you. Like, everyone just die over this song.

To me "The Kids Aren't Alright" is a hiatus song in that it's about surviving the hiatus, coming through it, reversing the curse, it's our time now if you want it to be, in the end, I'd do it all again, I think you're my best friend.

"Fourth of July" is another hiatus song for me, the reference to the burned bridges being the light that leads you home is just so hiatus-y. Also, the torture of small talk with someone you used to love just smacks of the hiatus, of how they stopped talking to each other, of how they knew so little about each other and had to start over. This is more wanting what you can't have, too: my favorite what-if, my best I'll-never-know. I said I'd never miss you. I wish I'd known how much you loved me. It's so much, this song lol

Twin Skeleton's: ouch. This song is so painful. This song scrapes over your skin like sandpaper. This song is so angry and bitter. This song is I need a new partner in crime and you shrug. oh my GOD that line kills me every single time. That one and the way Patrick snarls, I could just die laughing on your spiral of shame. This is an angry song, but the anger is born of a depth of emotion and it ends with Patrick promising hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on over and over, and that's what makes it extra-hiatus to me, like, hold on, it all gets better, I'm coming back, hold on, hold on, hold on...

I find the hiatus infects their songs less and less the farther they get away from it, which is good. It's healing. As we've discussed, they've almost forgotten the whole thing even happened, it's been blurred over by the sands of time.

[lipslikethegardensofbabylon]

#ttpd analysis day thirteen - I Can Do It With A Broken Heart

so fun fact, when I first listened to ttpd I hadn't read the prologue (does this make me a bad swiftie? lol) but so when i first heard ICDIWABH i texted one of my friends "this song sounds like mania". i know now that she referred to the relationship itself as the mania but following heartbreak, some people can be purposefully self destructive/harmful, and in that same vein i think some people refuse to process events when they've recently happened and occupy their mind with other things (hello denial stage). so basically that is ICDIWABH in a nutshell

so the lyrics of ICDIWABH are worrisome and extreme (and dare I say, unfortunately painfully relatable). to couple those lyrics with the upbeat, speedy production, the whole song sounds like avant-garde dadaism, basically

Dada was an art movement formed during the First World War in Zurich in negative reaction to the horrors and folly of the war. The art, poetry and performance produced by dada artists is often satirical and nonsensical in nature.

lights, camera, bitch, smile, even when you wanna die

I cry a lot but I am so productive, it's an art

I'm miserable! and nobody even knows!

once you get past the satirical production and first verse, there are some parallels to Hits Different (which also has an upbeat production):

I keep finding his things in drawers crucial evidence, I didn't imagine the whole thing/I find the artifacts, cried over a hat

one of the lyrics that stands out to me in ICDIWABH is I can pass this test. it can go a lot of different ways and I think that's why it resonates. it makes me think of TIMT and fell behind all my classmates and I ended up here, Bejeweled did all the extra credit, then got graded on a curve, and even Dear John's never impressed by me acing your tests. it could be indicative of the relationship itself being a test (to the public), or the muses partner testing the narrator. given the context of the song, it's likely the narrator saying i can show everyone I'm fine but it wasn't true

[taylortruther]

Now that we've officially entered TTPD release month and still have minimal info about the album itself somehow...what's your current predictions about what the album is gonna sound like and what it's central theme will be? (Sorry in advance if you've already covered this recently and I missed it lol)

My guess is that it will be Midnights production with Folkmore's lyrics and the theme will be reevaluating long-harbored misconceptions about love i.e. the sharper edges of 'fairytale romances' and overcoming deep wounds that you once thought you deserved to get etc...very Red adjacent if you know what I mean.

Anyways, your(And your other anons) big brain analysis always intrigues me so I was wondering what's your thoughts on all this and why Taylor is insisting on maintaining such thick air of mystery around this project as of yet.

i don't know about production or sound - i just hope florence and her chamber pop had an influence, because i love it very much.

i have all my song-by-song predictions pinned to my blog if you want to take a look.

but overall, based on the statement we received so far (which i assume is part of the prologue, or the thesis of the album), it sounds like this will be her "defense." the whole story. the good, the bad, and the ugly. but not just the story with joe, but a statement defining her perception of her role as an artist/truth-teller.

for our evidence, she is providing:

her tarnished shield, implying she's seen a lot of conflict, but also the tarnished symbol of her family (it makes me think of the shield she created in lover and repurposed for every album since. a literal symbol of the family she was creating?)

her muses, and the pain that her lovers caused her, that she caused herself in pursuit of relationships/acceptance, and the pain of her art being used as a weapon against her (ie, "with every guitar string scar on her hand" meets "watch out dude she'll write a song about you.')

her talismans and charms, and the many way she tried to control or protect herself and her relationships (reminds me of "i'm the wind in our free-flowing sails and the liquor in our cocktails" and "wary of ... charmers, dandies and get-love-quick-schemes.")

the love bombs and this sense of foreboding, evidence that there was intent to harm.

her veins of ink - like they're running black/dark, but also, she's a songwriter, it's her life blood, and it's ink, permanent, the way a record permanently goes into the public consciousness

all's fair in love and poetry - there's no right or wrong in this kind of conflict. it implies war (all's fair in love and war), truth (as in her truth but also the honesty of art), and also a lack of remorse. i mean, why should she feel sorry? it's her art. it's love. there are no rules.

the chairman of ttpd - time to teach some lessons.

[esse-lunam]

an introduction to: my 90s fame dr!

please read this god please there's art in here also ive put 5+ months of work into this dr at this point so i swear that there's interesting shit in here yall I SWEAR I AM NICHE.

reblogs greatly appreciated! this took me forever teehee

ohhh my god this is a long time in the making, ive put this off for so, so long and i really couldn't tell you why. this can act as a script me into ur dr post if you like as well!

for starters, you can find my pinterest board for this dr here :3 just in case u want some cool visuals i guess :3

-

so lets get the basics outta the way shall we?

full name: marley jo veitch

nicknames: mar, marley barley, mars bars, tink (reserved for s/o), living poet (public figure nickname type deal? yknow how stevie nicks gets called the white witch? yeah that)

pronouns: they/she

DOB: june 1st, 1970 (which makes me a gemini btw!)

occupation: musician (piano, violin, guitar n bass, some drums, and saxophone), poet, author (fiction and nonfiction), actor on occasion, also a comedian that one time

skills: all things music + writing basically, film analysis, pop culture analysis i guess, home decor, drawing, fashion?, and being the most autistic person in the multiverse

appearance stats: 5'3", 145ish lbs, long brownish-reddish hair with some light brown highlights in there, sorta wavy but barely

body mods: COVERED in tats (theres a tattoo section on the pinterest board but i also drew some so), septum piercing, snake bites, and a fair few ear piercings. and also i have glasses but thats not a body mod thats just a thing on my body.

"workin and workin't? you have a job?" more on that later!

-

relationships and such! with photos!

s/o: robert sean leonard

"hey, do i recognise this guy?" you might! he played notable roles such as neil perry in dead poet's society, claudio in much ado about nothing, and james wilson in house md!

best friends: dylan kussman, allelon ruggiero, alexandra powers, and kimya dawson

"do i recognise more of these people?" again, probably! dylan, al, and alex were all in dead poets society, and kimya is a musician best known for her indie songs, some featured in the movie juno!

-

my career! (oh good lord)

writing based - undedicated musings

(1986-1993)

alright so this is a bit hard to explain, bear with me. undedicated musings is an anonymous newsletter-based poetry... publication? run by me, under the pen name 'chartreuse', and the whole shtick is that i write poetry, love letters, and whatever else to the person i'll end up spending my life with, but the recipient of said writings is completely unknown, even to me, so im kinda just writing to nobody. until! i actually set my eyes on someone (obviously rsl) and then the writings start to get a bit more specific and yearn-y and personal. since the recipient is anonymous, all the writings are written for a 'vermillion'. both chartreuse and vermillion's identities are revealed when we get married in 1993. and no, rsl doesn't know that i'm chartreuse, nobody does until i reveal myself. i think its kinda cool :3

film based - dead poet's society

(1988-1989)

so for starters, i was part of the crew that worked on the set of dead poets society, now all my friends (except kimya, her and i become friends in the late 90s) make sense! my actual job on set is kind of a vague be-here-and-do-a-bit-of-everything type deal, so there's no set title beyond "assistant to lead" even tho it's essentially government assigned 'friendship' LMAO. but! me and the cast get on like a house on fire, so i kinda just get to tag along on their wacky teenage-ish boy adventures. this totally does not stem from a desire to be part of a teenage boy friend group, and i am, in fact, totally cisgender. i am also lying. anyway, without going into too much detail, me and my s/o-not-yet-s/o (will be referring to him as rsl from this point on) sorta have a painstakingly long will they wont they type deal, because i guess i like torturing myself. we meet a day before all the actual film stuff starts just as a sort of preliminary get to know eachother because you'll be in close proximity VERY often for months. thats some time in march - june-ish? of 1988 (i shift to my dr the day before!) and we don't actually get together until june of 1989. so.

also! some changes to the movie because i can make those: knox overstreet is now played by matthew lillard instead of josh charles, because josh charles is a fucking zionist and i dont want to associate with him in any reality! knox also isnt a b plot to the movie at all, instead focusing on meeks and pitts because i find them much more interesting! and also knox's b plot is creepy as hell! also, the racism against natives (read this!) is completely gone! no thanks!

music based - MAURZI

(1988-2004 technically)

strap in boys because this is the main event of this dr and the lore is VAST. MAURZI (must be spelled in all caps, like MF DOOM) is a sort of musical person/character i've made to tell the story of via a series of albums. i release my first single in october of 1988 titled "lunarian", which is a fun little song about a being from the moon arriving on earth and having some inter-planetary culture shock. and thats the only song i've actually planned! i release 6 total albums that map out the MAURZI storyline kinda

- MAURZI (1989)

- GONE TO SHIT! (1991)

- Charmed (1992)

- I found Him in Santa Barbara (1995)

- Waterworks (1998)

- also bibliography (2004) but those are released as songs By Me and not MAURZI, just released under the same artist. MAURZI storyline ends with Waterworks.

now here's where you get the very extensive MAURZI lore. MAURZI is a sort of alternate-universe representation of me, where in i'm much more famous than i actually am in my dr, and i am absolutely RUINED by my fame in a fuck ton of ways. each album is a different section of her life so i'll explain it album by album. also for reference, in my dr capitalism/ currency isnt a thing, but in the MAURZI... verse? it is. because i like anti capitalist art! same goes for most other media im in/ participate in, actually. MAURZI uses she/her pronouns btw, i dont.

MAURZI - my self-titled album is about as close and personal to my life as i'll get, which an average amount because i still throw in some songs about shit that i have not at all done/ experienced. (ex. songs about cheating, toxic relationships, and things along those lines. thankfully ive had a mostly healthy relationship with relationships! except that one time!) MAURZI is new to the music scene but she's here to make some lovely tunes to help process some stuff! artists im taking inspiration from include (but are not limited to): sarah kinsley, dodie, jeff buckley, tv girl, mitski, and peach pit.

GONE TO SHIT! - MAURZI's first album blew the fuck up! now she's thrown into the midst of dealing with an incomprehensible amount of attention on her at all times, which she was absolutely not prepared for. what does she do to cope? sex drugs and rock n roll, baby! she also gets addicted to 2 outta those 3 things! can you guess which ones?? now, obviously, this album is entirely fictional and is only tangentially inspired by some life events, heavy emphasis on the tangentially. artists im taking inspiration from include (but are not limited to): the nonstick pans, panic! at the disco, forest, david bowie, chappel roan, and king gizzard & the lizard wizard.

Charmed - the love song album! this is basically comprised of songs i sorta wrote about rsl, but changed up a fuck ton because i wrote them while i was pining and did Not want him to knkw who they were about. in terms of MAURZI stuff, she meets someone just after deciding that she's gotta clean up her act if she wants to exist healthily. recovering alongside a loved one and them being a motivator for recovery! now i should specify here that MAURZI's s/o is not the same as mine, and is entirely gender neutral/ doesn't even have a canon(?) human appearance at all. they're named Vermillion because we love a callback! artists im taking inspiration from include (but are not limited to): the smiths, siouxsie and the banshees, james blake, queen, laufey, and her's.

I found Him in Santa Barbara - yknow how when a banana ripens too much and it starts to tuen brown? yeah imagine that logic but applied to recovery, i guess. NOW IS A GOOD TIME TO REITERATE THAT MAURZI AND I ARE TWO DIFFERENT PEOPLE AND MAURZI IS JUST A CHARACTER. essentially MAURZI had a spiritual awakening and "found god." but what that ACTUALLY means is that she started viewing vermillion as a sort of god? but she's keeping it on the down low (making an album about it) because she doesn't want vermillion to thing she's CRINGE. themes of loving a god, being IN love with a god, being in lust with a god, temporarily thinking youre a god? stuff along those lines. its a bit intense, VERY experimental and.. heavy? both in themes and in musical style for some portions. this is my fav album out of all of them if you couldnt tell. artists im taking inspiration from include (but are not limited to): sleep token, WILLOW, type o negative, slipknot, lemon demon (specifically songs off spirit phone), hozier, violent vira, pierce the veil, gorillaz kinda, bjork, kate bush, deftones, destroy boys, and rammstein probably.

Waterworks - so yknow how MAURZI was having a whole trouble with god moment? yeah well thats gone now, no i haven't figured out how that'll work narratively, thats for me to figure out in like 10 years from now (now being 1988, naturally.) we've returned to our self-titled roots in terms of musical style! now we've just got some fun themes of trauma and such! and then that's the and of MAURZI as a character story wise, as i said earlier the album after this one is just a Me album. same artist inspo as self titled!

and guess what! music lore isnt even fuckin done! my music in this dr is a multiverse in itself goddamn. so basically the album covers for each album tell a completely seperate story about a completely seperate alter ego/ character/ whatever named Moonzi. name given by my audience (which is my excuse for coming up with such a shitty name and then keeping it.) the story of moonzi, without going into too much detail because i dont wanna type it all out, is a sci-fi type story about a being from the moon (lunarian callback!) on a quest to bring this space artifact back to its original place, basically. a bit more on it later, emphasis on a bit. also! each album cover is drawn by a different artist, and each album artist animates one official music video off their respective album, just cuz i like art and stuff! those music videos kinda follow the moonzi storyline loosely, but incorporate MAURZI elements. is this confusing? hope not. drawings!

writing based - novels

can you believe im still not done? like not even close? certified yapper. anyway! my 3 fiction novels (Manchester, NH - 1991, Curator Rye, 1997, Sand Dollars + Pearls - 2008) are about my ocs basically! thats it really, i dont feel the need to share the plots of those tbh.

writing based - autobiographies

two? yep! one is a fictional autobiography about MAURZI (MAURZI - 1999) and one is a non fictional autobiography about me (Radio Free Marley - 2012.) take a shot every time i say MAURZI and you will need to get your stomach pumped. she just. she means a lot to me :3

film based - doctor who

(1994-1999)*

*these dates are when im on the show btw, not its total runtime, same applies to other cr existing shows.

big disclaimer: never seen doctor who. dont know the plot, dont know which doctor i'm gonna be, i just wanna be in it.

so! my version of the doctor is kinda weird. its one doctor, but played by two people, but theyre one person. we're both the doctor. and by we i mean both me and rsl, obviously. the viewer sees the doctor as two different people, but NOBODY ELSE IN THE DAMN SHOW besides our little companion buddy guy (played by my cr friend fish!) SEES, ACKNOWLEDGES, OR IS ABLE TO VIEW THE DOCTOR AS TWO PEOPLE. its really complicated and i really did not have to make it that way, but its cool to me so i really dont care. also we're breakjng the doctor who cycle of boring suit and tie (this is NOT about you 15 <3) and going steampunk-esque. again, cuz i wanna.

film based - house md

(2005 - 2010)

marley veitch be in a show without rsl challenge (failed.) i play a character i made up named Nanette Amesbury who is essentially wilson's first ex wife. does he have a canon first ex wife? think so (i actually havent finished house oops.) do i care? you can take a guess. nanette (nicknamed ninny - which im well aware means dumb) is the director of the pediatrics department at princeton plainsboro and she kinda has a fwb type deal with wilson before figuring out shes a lesbian, having a crush on cuddy, being besties with kutner, then leaving the show in season 6. (zeth if ur reading this yes i made her show up for more than 2 seconds she just. means so much to me. also i want cudbury content.) im also a writer for the show so im there for its entire run time :3 i really like this show :3

film based - moonzi

(2016)

YEAHHHHH BABY SHES BACK!!! moonzi's storyline gets adapted into an adult swim animated tv show! i do screenwriting, stiryboarding, and voice acting! style wise, think teen titans mixed with bojack horseman mixed with archer. sick space visuals also!

comedy based - dying art

(2020)

idk i wanted to do a standup special! dunno what it's about. ill leave that up to future me to decide because this isn't happening for 32 damn years and i really just dont wanna come up with a standup special rn.

film based - radio free marley

(whenever)

i wanted a biopic, but i wanted it to be both about me and MAURZI, and how points in my life influenced or inspire songwriting. so the episode structure is like

ep 1: about me, point in my life

ep 2: about MAURZI, point in her life thats sorta related but not entirely to the events in ep 1

ep 3: about me, point in my life

ep 4: about MAURZI, point in her life thats sorta related but not entirely to the events in ep 3

ep 5: you get the idea

and then this goes on for 12 episodes and ends with the MAURZI story wrapping up and with me sorta retiring kinda. dont know when it'll be made, probably at some point in my 60s or whatever. im permashifting if you couldnt tell btw.

and thats it! after all this im just kinda existing and living life and whatever else. so with that outta the way i'll list some fun facts and i'll FINALLY BE DONE JESUS CHRIST IVE BEEN WRITING THIS FOR LIKE 3 HOURS.

- i live in new york city! manhattan to be specific

- i also have a lake house in new hampshire because i Need to be in a rural area at some points

- my house's interior design is very 70s themed and its WHIMSICAL AND FUN! maximalism, whimsigoth, nooks and crannys to be in, fun and varied seating options, conversation pit, loft bedroom, whole 9 yards. ive also got a gazebo on my roof!

- i have 2 siblings in my dr (not here im an only child in my cr womp womp) named lia and monty, theyre my best friends in my cr!

- ive also got a cat! she's a ragdoll kitty named yvonne, shes a sweetheart!

- i scripted out light pollution so the sky is all pretty at night, highly recommend you do the same

- im in STOMP at one point, dont know or care when, i just wanna be in it

- robin williams........... he is a father figure to me................ sniff sob

- yes i scripted out his death i simply cannot deal with that

- PUBLIC TRANSPORT AND WALKABLE SOCIETY!!!!! NO MORE CAR BASED US SOCIEY WOOOO!!!

- i cant fucking believe i havent mentioned this yet but im scottish?? im not scottish in my cr i was just thinking about david tennant when i was forming the dr idea back in january and it stuck. MAURZI is american tho

- hilson is canon in my dr LMAOAOOA

- thats all i got

sweet lord in heaven above if you've read this whole thing im giving u a big kiss. this is so long and i really dont wanna proofread it so im not gonna, excuse any spelling or grammar mistakes.

[rocketboots564]

OC Info and Mood Board

Here’s a Mood Board and OC Info for a Teen Wolf OC of mine: Enrico Mahealani

Enrico Mahealani: Enrico is a curious, clever, and sophisticated kid, and is a close relative of Danny Mahealani. He moves in with Danny after he decides to move back to Beacon Hills (this is during/after the Teen Wolf Movie). With an obsession for criminology and incredible psychic powers to boot, he excels in criminal investigation and forensic analysis. Despite being an awkward teenager haunted by dead, he strives to use his gifts and skills to become a detective…. even if that means occasionally getting in the way of police work, and dragging Eli Hale into his investigations with or without his permission…. May god rest Sheriff Stilinski’s stressed out soul.

Appearance: Enrico has tanned, moderately brown skin with short, wavy yet slightly spiky black hair. Paired with his dark brown eyes and semi-formal style, he often exudes the look of a private academy student mixed with a scraggly noir detective, even sporting his own overcoat (but no fedora. He’s more of a fisherman’s cap guy anyway)

Gender: Male (he/him)

Age: 15-16

Height & Weight: 5’10ft / 177lb

Nationality: Hawaiian/Cuban-American

Species: Human Psychic

Powers: communication with the dead, astral projection, semi-clairvoyance, slight magic prowess

Personality: Enrico has a sophisticated yet casual way of presenting himself. Sure, he talks like a debate team mixed with a poetry teacher, but he’s not very outspoken and rather quiet at times. However, he is exceptionally blunt and straightforward, oftentimes getting straight to the point when talking.

Other Info: Enrico is the son of one of Danny’s Cousin. Technically first cousin once removed, which I simplify to just “relative”

He’s known about his abilities from a very young age, but doesn’t mention them due to being sent to several doctors and therapists, all trying to diagnose him. In his words, “Concern arises when you tell people you can see the dead”

Enrico was orphaned, moving in with Danny after loosing his father due to disease. He lost his mother years before in a car wreck.

He occasionally enjoys botany, and likes growing scorpion grasses, as well as tomato plants

Out of all the dead people who communicate with him in Beacon Hills, the ones he connects with the most is Erica, Boyd, and occasionally Derek, who he often sees in small flashes watching over Eli. He wishes to know why they’re so important, and why they continue to show up.

Music: a list of songs that give off Enrico’s vibe

Pursing My True Self - Persona 4

Space Cowboy - Jamiroquai

Heaven - Persona 4

Duvet - Bôa

Qué Será - Willie Colon

Memories of You - Persona 3

Face Claim

Model - Jose Oliva

Source - Ron Reyes on Twitter (fair warning, their photography is rather provocative, but good!)

@fionajames thank you so much for the kind words I’d be glad to tag you in any other posts I make about him.

Some of this stuff you’ve seen already, but I hope you enjoy what’s new

[hxhhasmysoul]

Hey, have you seen the eve song avant for Jujutsu kaisen game and its lyrics. I am not really good at figuring out themes and meaning behind songs at least in Japanese or maybe at best at surface level. But the lyrics seem to me from sukuna's perspective . Especially that indomitable spirit is so similar to what sukuna thinks of yuji. Can you give your opinion on it as I know you have knowledge in Japanese.

Sorry it took me so long to answer. I was hoping I’d have more time to maybe try to do what you asked for, actually try to reanimate my very stale Japanese and dig into the text of the song a bit. But my life’s been a mess recently and I just don’t have the space for that. My Japanese is too stale to do it casually, especially that it’s poetry which I’m not a great fan of in general, I’m much more of a prose person. 

I do understand your frustration here, I looked at translations of this song and they vary quite a bit. 

I think an important thing to keep in mind is that the song is from 2022. So the lyrics would reflect the state of JJK at that point in time, not even the point when Phantom Parade was released, let alone now.

As a SukuIta shipper I think your assumption makes sense that it’s from Sukuna’s perspective and about Yuuji and his relationship with Yuuji.  It would play into Sukuna’s low self-awareness and his muddled feelings regarding Yuuji. How he judges Yuuji but is also fascinated by him and unsettled. 

That being said, the song seems to hint at much more fondness than canon Sukuna seems to have for Yuuji. I mean Sukuna is capable of this kind of fondness, he has it for Uraume… And it’s not like he has none of it for Yuuji, like I feel there are moments that can be interpreted as him showing some hints of it. As a SukunIta shipper I will interpret those moments as such, but I don’t think people who won’t interpret them this way have weaker grounds for their interpretation. It’s very “what you want to read into it”, I feel.

I like your interpretation. It’s a nice one. If the song is about them, it really digs into the twisted relationship they could have in canon. 

And the thing about poetry or any text is that there isn’t one interpretation. Even if the author of the song have said which characters they had in mind writing this, and I don’t know if they ever have, then it wouldn’t matter anyway. The author may have had their own intentions but if the song makes sense as being about Sukuna and Yuuji then it can be about that too. 

I hope you don’t mind that my answer isn’t a proper analysis. I’m sorry.

[laurellerual]

Oh, Lay My Sweet Lass Down in the Grass

My Featherbed has one of the most complete lyrics Martin wrote into the books. Its wiki page speculates that the 'real' title of the song may be Oh, Lay My Sweet Lass Down in the Grass. I always thought this was the name of another Tom's song with similar themes, but that makes me wonder...

If this is true it could be an indication that we still don't know the full text of this song. It is in fact common for this kind of ballad not to have a real title, but to be known by one of their verses and Lay my sweet lass down in the grass sounds a lot like a lost verse.

In the first eight verses the lord explains to the lass how their relationship should be according to the traditional canons of marriage. In the next eight verses the lass explains to him what the relationship could be like, she rejects this canons and propose her alternative. Therefore the text as we know it closes with an open ending: will the lord accepts the lass for who she is?

Oh, lay my sweet lass down in the grass seems to be the positive answer to the lass's proposal. These words could be part of a final rhyming couplets, or a refrain, or two lines of a lost final stanza. Let's see:

One of the clues that My Featherbed and Oh, Lay My Sweet Lass may be the same song is the words repetition. In the known text of My Featherbed there are internal repetitions and by connecting these two lost verses other significant repetitions are added. Especially noteworthy is lay down which appear at the beginning and (according to my theory) close the song, with the reconciliation of the two lovers.

Another important clue usefull for interpretating the song in its entirety lies in the words the lord chooses to speak to the lass:

At the beginning of the song he says to the her: "I will dress YOU", almost without taking into consideration the lass' will.

And the lass responds reaffirming herself by telling him: "I will dress MYSELF", in a “this is the person I am and if your love is true you'll accept it” kind of way.

In the hypothetical lost final stanza it's againg the lord's turn to speak, but this time he has listened to her and learned his lesson. This time he doesn't say "I'll lay YOU down", but "YOU lay YOURSELF down". In this way he shows he understood her point and in fact he no longer calls her my lady love, but my lass because he accepted to be her forest love and gave up being her lord.

Conclusions:

I think this missing part of the song reinforce the idea of Arya and Gendry as an anti-parallel to Lyanna and Robert.

Also the missing verses thet tell us about the reconciliation of the two lovers, after overcoming the social expectations that separated them, may have been omitted on purpose. Why? If I'm right I expect that, after reuniting, Arya and Gendry will hear the song again, this time in its entirety, in a scene that may parallel Acorn Hall.

The end. I did my best with the analysis, but if anyone with more experience in English poetry than me would like to contribute to this post they are welcome.

[guxciestone]

✧ CELEBRITY BIRTH CHART ANALYSIS ✧

— drake.

i’m very interested to look into drake’s natal chart because he has very unique placements. he’s a venus retrograde native like me! i hope you are having an amazing day and enjoy 🤍😊

ㅤㅤ

ㅤㅤ

✨🦉 Aubrey Drake Graham was born on October 24, 1986 in Toronto, Canada. Drake is one of the most popular rappers of this generation known for his melodic/rhythmic sound and soft image. Drake started off his legacy and gained recognition from his acting career as Jimmy Brooks in ‘Degrassi: The Next Generation’. After his acting efforts, he started his career in rapping and music. He easily gained recognition and popularity after his debut album ‘Thank Me Later’ which published in June 2010. A list of a few of Drake’s popular songs are: Hotline Bling (2016), God’s Plan (2018), and Marvin’s Room (2011) Additionally, Drake also gained recognition for his meme-able character.

ㅤㅤ

he identifies as:

࿐ a scorpio sun, cancer moon, & leo rising.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

ㅤㅤ

ㅤㅤ— his personality.❞

ㅤㅤ

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Water Grand Trine indicates that Drake has a talent in expressing his emotions and relating to others, especially through creative pursuits such as writing, poetry, and music since his trine are in air houses. He is deeply empathetic, sensitive, and mostly isn't afraid to do so. Drake has a reputation of being a guy who is in touch with feminine side, and he owns it with no apologies. You can definitely see his comfortability with his sensitive side with his Moon in Cancer.

ㅤㅤ

Sun conjunct Pluto shows that Drake is an intense, powerful, and introspective guy who often undergos tons of transformations in his life, especially when it comes to his values, thoughts, and opinions on things with his aspect in the 3rd house. These are the types of people who go through different personas and different periods. I bet if you looked back at one of drake's older photos, you could easily identify what type of era he was going through in his life. One thing I can say is that he is a man who is willing to change and learn for the better. On the other hand, this does show someone could have control issues and have an intense obsession with power. On the darker side, if this person has power, they have the potential to use it for the worse just to establish respect for others and satisfy their ego. I definitely do think his obsessive need for power shows in Mars square Pluto, especially when it comes to routine and how he wants things to be. He might like things to go his way and only his way, and would do anything it takes for it be so (Pluto in Scorpio), even in unconventional ways with his Mars in Aquarius. I'm not saying that this is true, but there are rumors that Drake orders hitman on several artists in the past. I think it's fascinating how this aspect aligns with that allegation.

ㅤ

Mercury square Ascendant shows that Drake struggles with communication and expressing his thoughts and opinions with associates and strangers during conversations. It is possible that Drake is an awkward person who he struggles with socializing a bit. On the other hand, he might just struggle with gettin his point across and could be easily misunderstood. Since his Mercury is in Scorpio and his Ascendant in Leo, it is possible that since Drake is a deep thinker and isn't uncomfortable expressing his intense feelings, people can almost be put off with how sudden his words are. This comes into conflict with his confident and bright disposition.

ㅤㅤ

Saturn square Ascendant can indicate that Drake struggles to express his natural personality around strangers and associates. With Saturn in the 4th house, Drake could've had a childhood that dealt with some type of restrictions, scarcity, or extreme responsibilities. Perhaps there was a strained relationship with the parents, financial hardship, or anything else. This could've caused Drake to develop a inherited shell in which he hides himself from others within the fear of being judged or criticized. He might be seen as too serious to individuals around him.

ㅤㅤ

Mercury conjunct Venus shows Drake's incredible talent in music, singing, and songwriting. He is also a beautiful communicator with his Venus in the 3rd house. In tons of interviews, Drake talks as though he is speaking poetry. He truly knows how to use his words. Not to mention, he is a good songwriter.

ㅤㅤ

Neptune trine Ascendant that Drake has the ability to shapeshift and become any type of character he wants to be. It is almost as though anyone can project their own fantasies and thoughts onto him and he'll become just that. Not to mention, Drake is undeniably talented in many areas considering that his Neptune is in 5th house. He's very versatile and has a performer quality with his Ascendant as Leo.

ㅤㅤ

ㅤㅤ— his relationships.❞

ㅤㅤ

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

With Moon trine Jupiter, Drake is a man with a huge and generous heart. He loves receiving love, and spreading love. People love to make jokes about how Drake is such a nice guy because he is from Canada. Astrologically, this aspects shows that. At one of his older concerts, he instructed everyone in the audience to give a person, even if they were a stranger, a hug. If that isn't Moon trine Jupiter activities, I don't know what is. With his Moon in the 11th and Jupiter in the 7th, Drake is abundant of any relationships and social connections. He could be very extroverted and has tons of friends and relations with people making him popular. He could also have a fruitful love life too and be very charming, especially with his Venus trine Jupiter. He is very popular with the opposite gender especially, and knows how to pursue them. However, due to these individuals being used to getting what they want in regards to love, pleasure, and materials, they could believe they could get literally anything they desire with no efforts or realism. Drake could struggle with believing that he cannot in fact have anyone he wants. At some point he could've lacked realism in his love life. These people tend to be extremely humorous too. Drake is a figure in the pop culture that is easily meme-ified nowadays.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Moon trine Pluto shows that Drake is also an intense person when it comes to his inner world. He feels very deeply, especially towards his loved ones and friends since Moon is in the 11th house. He is probably the type have many associates but a close-knit group of friends that he calls family. It must be hard to get into his circle because he values his privacy and exclusivity so much.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Moon opposition Neptune that although Drake is a compassionate, selfless, and charitable guy when it comes to his loved ones. He is also capable of being taken advantage of, or he is someone who takes advantage of others. He might be susceptible to projecting onto others or struggle to make sense of the people around him and his environment. Perhaps he has an issue with understand who is and isn’t his friends, which can cause him be surrounded by around a lot of fake people with Moon in the 11th house. It is best advised for him to make sense of it and keep his circle small as mentioned above.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Venus Retrograde shows that Drake is a guy who feels love differently than others. He feels it deeply and in his own unique way. Consider the fact that this retrograde only takes about 8% of the population—a pretty rare placement. Drake, generally, has a bunch of karmic lessons surrounding love, material things, and self-love in this life. He has to deal with karmic relationships and scenarios in order to improve his views on love and the idea of it in general. With his retrograde being in Scorpio in the 3rd house, Drake could be someone who struggles with possessiveness and clinginess. He could even be someone who is flaky, flighty, and might have an issue with committing. It’s his lesson to learn how to truly connect with others on a deeper level and get to know people genuinely without leaving at every new interest. According to Drake in one of his interviews when people said that he cannot be single forever, " I love my space and my routine. For me to break that it would have to be a really special person." This quote is the epitome of a venus retrograde individual. 

ㅤㅤ

Jupiter square Chiron shows that Drake has life lessons that will change his views and beliefs, particularly in this relationships since Jupiter in the 7th house. His career and his image will be the reason as to why. Chiron in Gemini in the 10th house shows that Drake will experience wounds and traumas surrounding being heard in the public eye. Again, he may have to deal with being misunderstood by the people, which can cause the wound of feeling as though he can't express his thoughts and say what he wants to say. This causes Drake to have a different view on relationships and connections in general.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

ㅤㅤ

ㅤㅤ— his legacy/image.❞

ㅤㅤ

ㅤㅤ

Sun sextile Midheaven shows that Drake is a pioneer in his area of occupation—Music and the arts. It is almost as though the talent of songs, writing, versatility, and creativity comes natural to him, especially since his Sun is in the 3rd house. Additionally, he receives tons of attention, fame, and popularity. He is also highly respected in his industry due to his glamorous persona.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Sun trine Chiron indicates that Drake is a confident, determined, and highly motivated man. Most importantly, he is incredibly versatile and talented with his Sun in the 3rd house. He used these traits to help himself gain respect in his industry especially with Chiron in the 10th house. This is allowing him to finally be heard and understood like he always wanted with his Chiron in Gemini. Mercury opposition Midheaven also shows how Drake has to deal with struggling with expressing his thoughts and opinions correctly to the public; hence, being misunderstood or not expressing himself at all.

ㅤㅤ

Venus opposition Midheaven shows that Drake finds his true pleasures in his private life. His personal life is where he truly finds satisfaction. With Venus in the 4th house, Drake definitely his pleasures in his home life, family, and security. He must also find pleasure in his privacy and people not knowing much about him and his life circumstances with his Venus in Scorpio. He prefers to invest in the luxuries of life with his loved ones when no one is watching.

ㅤㅤ

With his Leo Ascendant at the 29°, the 29° is the degree of maturity or near completion. With Drake, he probably at a point where has achieved ultimate full growth in how he perceived life, how he responds to his environment, and how he presents himself. In the past, he might have struggled with an ego or selfishness. Now, he is at the level where he is truly self-confident and secure in himself and he owns who he is with no apologies.

ㅤㅤ

🦉

ㅤㅤ