Hozier - Take Me To Church
1(a) The Song is describing the life of a Christian that is born sick. He is pleading to his lover to take him to church and worship God there. His lover insists that he should worship in the bedroom. The man confesses his sins in church, waiting for somebody to sharpen his knife. The man begs to be given a trance-like death experience.
1(b) The title "take me to church" is quite self explanatory and is repeated throughout the song. In the context of the song, it has a literal meaning, taking the author to church. However, relative to the song, the title means that the author regards his lover like a religion and is desperate to be reunited with his lover once again.
3 The artist Hozier was born in Ireland and grew up in the Irish countryside. His father was a banker and his mother was an artist. He was born in a Catholic family but was raised in Protestant faith, now he identifies as an agnostic.
His Christian background and his current agnostic faith explain several aspects of the song. His background supports his reluctance to pray in church and his disagreement with evangelic laws. His Christian upbringing also explains why he knows so much about Christianity and its laws.
4 The song is set in a graveyard, with the author standing in front of his lover's grave. The sky is dark as if there is an impending storm
This depiction of the scene is derived from the imagery used within the song. Hozier used words like "bleak" and "funeral" that helps in directly painting the scenery. Furthermore, the tone that he used was rather negative, further creating a dark scenery.
2 Pagan: one who has no religion and who delights in sensual pleasures and material goods.
The language is arguably colloquial and relatively formal. The song has some parts that are directed to the author's lover, making the language used more warm and informal in some cases. In other instances, the language used was simple when the author is speaking to the church.
5(a) The words death, lies, sharpen knives are constantly repeated throughout the song. This alludes to great pain that the author was feeling at the time, and also his negative mood at the time.
The word Amen was also repeated multiple times throughout the song. This is an Irony on itself as Hozier is not Christian. This irony helps in creating a poetic sense to the song and creates a slight depth as well.
5(b) Personification: "If the Heavens ever did speak"
This excerpt from the song is a perfect example of personification. He gives Heaven, an inanimate object humane characteristics. This use of personification symbolizes his deep understanding of the Christian belief and his distrust towards the church and Christian teachings
Metaphors: "She's the last true mouthpiece"
This line from the song shows the use of metaphor in order to convey the message that his lover is the one who he deems as worthy to speak of divinity. He solely trusts the words of his lover and not of the church, showing the depth of his love to his lover.
"Take me to church"
The title of the song is a metaphor in itself. The author was comparing his lover to a religion, symbolized by the term church. In the song, the author repetitively showcases his obedience and reverence to this church that he begs to be taken to. Which in this case shows his deep passion and love to his lover.
Allusion "We were born sick"
This phrase specifically alludes towards homosexuality and the harsh treatment they receive from religious bodies. It alludes to Russia's antipathy towards homosexuality and their denial of variety in sexual orientation. Churches often see homosexuality as a human illness and that it can be cured if we prayed to God and become a celibate and obedient Christian.
5(c) Alliteration: "...Madness and soil of that sad earthly scene"
In this excerpt the sound of the consonant "s" is repeated several times in the line. This helps in creating a rhythm to the song and makes the song flow smoothly
Assonance: "...deathless death"
While some may argue that this is not assonance as there is the use of the root word "death" twice in a single line. However, this phrase was used repeatedly in the song and It has a large impact on the song's flow.
5(d) Allusion: There is an obvious allusion to Catholic Christianity. Where the author repeatedly uses terms like church, Amen, God, sins, shrine throughout the song. The use of these phrases paints a clear allusion to Catholic Christianity, their beliefs, laws and customs.
5(e) Rhyming: There are several instances where the song uses a specific rhyme scheme. The first stanza of the song would serve to be a good example. In the first stanza alone there are two different rhyme schemes, ABBA and ABAA
The use of these rhyme schemes results in a poetic effect to the song, and helps in creating depth to the song.
6(a) There is much to be learned about the author from this song alone. Within this song, the author clearly shows his distaste and disbelief in the Christian faith and its laws. His diction was largely negative, his tone was angry and mocking and he continuously paint dark, bleak scenery. However, while addressing to his lover, he shows his passion, trust and love in an odd way. He shows all of these positive traits in a negative light so that the theme of his song was not disrupted. Also, it seems that the author is supportive of homosexuality and defied the church due to its laws against homosexuality.
6(b) The artist mentions his lover in multiple instances throughout the song. He constantly addresses his lover in a revered manner, showing his respect, obedience and love for his lover. Analyzing the song would show that the author regards his lover as if she is a religion. Commenting on her being a Goddess, the mouthpiece of heaven, the sunlight. However, there is no direct depiction of the author's lover, there is no way to know for sure her characteristics and personal traits.
7 Structure: Oddly enough, the use of punctuation is very much rare in this song. It is possible to argue that almost every line uses the literary device enjambment as it does not have a closing punctuation at the end. However, this lack in punctuation accentuates the effect of punctuation in the song, in the rare occasions that it was used.
The author used several commas in "Amen, Amen, Amen". This use of punctuation effectively accentuates the ironic nature of the line. The author is not a Christian and detests Christian laws, the use of comma places an emphasis on the irony of the line, and gives a sense of mocking.
Yet another example on the use of punctuation would be: "Good God, let me give you my life"
The author strategically placed a comma after the phrase "Good God" in order to emphasize on God. This emphasis helps in conveying the might and importance of God to readers
8 Conclusion : After re-reading all of the notes that are made in this document, I came to a conclusion. The theme of the song is Unjust discrimination against homosexuality.
Reason 1 Allusion to real-life cases of discrimination against homosexuality.
The song has an allusion to an event in Russia where homosexuality was renounced and was invalidated.
Reason 2 Metaphors that depict Unjust Christian laws
Reason 3 Repetition of phrases that show the pain of being homosexual