#theory about poetry

[crumblinggothicarchitecture]

Taylor Swift: The Lyric Thief- Evermore Edition.

Do y'all know about this?

Swift's lyric "How's one to know/ I'd meet you where the spirit meets the bone" ("Ivy" 2020).

Great, interesting lyric from Swift's own mind, right? WRONG.

Originally, it came from a poem called "Compassion" written by Miller Williams in 1997.

Here is the poem:

Have compassion for everyone you meet, even if they don’t want it. What seems conceit, bad manners, or cynicism is always a sign of things no ears have heard, no eyes have seen. You do not know what wars are going on down there where the spirit meets the bone. (Williams, 1997)

It's later used as an album title "Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone" that Miller William's daughter, Lucinda Williams, published in 2014.

She also used the line, that her father ORGINALLY wrote, in a song tribute to him called "Compassion" on that same 2014 album.

Can we please stop pretending Swift is a genius? When, in fact, all of her most "intelligent" and "powerful" lyrics are lines outright taken from other works in literary, and musical, canon.

She's just a derivative fraud who wants all of her fans to think she's the one coming up with all these ideas.

She stole the line from a woman who used it as a tribute to her dying Father- the original author- who is now passed.

Not only did Swift rip the line out of a tribute album written to the original writer- but she also put the line in a dumb song that romanticizes cheating. She writes, "dare to sit a watch what we'll become/ and drink my husband's wine" ("Ivy" 2020). Clearly, the whole song is about a woman who is cheating on her husband.

The original intention of the line itself is about having compassion for other people, while taking care to have humility and resist the allure of cynicism. It's a poem about caring for your fellow man- and resisting despair in life. Arguably, it is also a poem about mental health issues and respecting those who may struggle. Swift twists the line to describe meeting a clandestine hookup and cheating on her husband.

Not only did she yank the line right out of someone else’s work, with no credit given to the original intention of the line or the original author- but she also made it about such a selfish, sick, thing to do- cheating on a spouse.

The original intention of the line was so kind and empathetic. She ruined it with her endorsement of cavalier attitudes towards moral corruption :(

[ivaspinoza]

"(...) attempts to find general laws on literature have always failed."

"Most of these 'laws' (...) could not tell us anything really significant about the processes of literature."

"(...) no work of art can be wholly 'unique' since it then would be completely incomprehensible."

Theory of Literature, René Wellek and Austin Warren, 1948

[euesworld]

"I have so much love for you, theoretically every time you are cold you should be able to warm your hands over my heart like a hearth.. and my warmth would seep deep into your soul, so don't get burned."

Everyone says that I'm trouble, but get in my bubble and you will really find that I'm like winning the lottery by double - eUë

[moon-thestardustwriter]

do you know where your atoms come from?

you are in the universe just as the universe is in you

you are in the ground that you walk on, the air that you breath, the planet in which you are a part of

you are in the sun and the moon and the stars far away

you are in stars in the sky and galaxies near and far and the tiniest of pebbles in space

you are but an immeasurable speck, less than dust in the size of the universe

you are everywhere and everything all at once

you are the universe given life and persona and thought and will

you are the will of the universe

we are the universe given life and breathe

we are the universe given understanding and thought

we are cosmically small and yet we are in everything

if that's not beauty, if that's not purpose, what is?

[lightineventide]

My Train Of Thoughts - Yet Again

To be more specific, it's just one thought. I know the lyrics of the album Poetry For The Poisoned are vague as a whole and even weird at times, but I was wondering if I'm just imagining a pattern. Can any fellow fan share some wisdom with me, please? :)

I mean, have you noticed the little detail in The Great Pandemonium, where the backing vocals repeat the phrase "Red light - hit the brake now" right before the guitar solo (it was omitted in the live versions, I think)? It definitely adds more clarity about the pictured situation, but what does it mean for the rest of the songs? I have a feeling that it is connected to Part III of the title track - All Is Over. The first two parts can be seen as some form of mental analysis of the "character"'s life and "What if all is over?" seems like a logical continuation of these thoughts, given the cruel and dark experiences the rest of the songs portray (The Zodiac, Hunter's Season, Necropolis, etc.). But then, all of a sudden, the character describes a calm and endearing memory of his childhood (Part IV)? Does this mean he's really dead (life flashes before his eyes and all), and that The Great Pandemonium was foreshadowing the end? And is the resolution of Once Upon A Time just him realizing there won't be peace for his soul, so to say?

I can go in a lot more detail, but the whole situation reminds me of Haven and The Shadow Theory - it technically isn't a concept album, but there seems to be a theme progression. My theory is that the protagonist here just realizes that he's had chances to become a better person after the implied crime against the woman in If Tomorrow Came (such a creepy song! But the title could imply that he thinks he won't face consequences...) - for example learning from the trial of the murderer in The Zodiac (Roy plays a very small part in this song, probably as a judge?) and the experience of grief in Hunter's Season, but he wastes all of them, and is kinda conscious of it (My Train Of Thoughts, Seal Of Woven Years) - but it isn't until the implied car crash and his death that he fully realizes what it all means.

What do you think? :) I appreciate any ideas!

[kukekakuningaskris]

since joker out posted a snippet of everybody's waiting (and made me cry) i looked at the form of the lyrics and ordered what i think are also lyrics from bojan's instagram based on the rhyme schemes and syllable counts (as well as the metrical feet used). welcome back to poetry theory!

the real snippet:

hype comes, love goes, everybody fades hiding every day behind the shelter of your shades you can't make it go away ginger shot, vitamins, shower cold, feeling old just do everything the way you are told case closed, soul sold.

what i think is another verse (might not be lyrics and if they are i still might have gotten the order wrong! this is just an educated guess!):

quotas to fill, bills to pay you should be getting ready for the big day starlight effect and a cigarette everyone’s there, no one gives you a call the center of the world on a pedestal, until it's your turn to take the fall

given how the real snippet has an AABCCC rhyme scheme i'm guessing the other verse would be the same, and within the rhyming lines i ordered them based on line lengths. for the CCC cluster i also took into account the fact that one of those lines (the fourth) is dactylic in both instances and the others are trochaic in the snippet while one in iambic in my proposed verse.

also, the lines in the snippet are less strict, having anywhere from 2 to 7 stressed syllables in a line, but with the exception of the fourth line every other line is trochaic with no iambs in sight. but other than that my main sentiments from this post still stand!

[novelconcepts]

do you have any theories or anything you want to happen in season 3 of yellowjackets?

Theories, not so much. Pet desires? Absolutely. I want to see more in-depth work on Taissa, particularly in relation to the no-eyed man. I want to see childhood flashbacks for any of the girls, but especially Van. I would love to get, as I've said, more of the bleeding-in of the 90s cast into the adult timeline situations. I want Akilah to have survived to adulthood. I want Taivan shenanigans in both timelines, and if this means adult Taivan banging it out, I will not be remotely argumentative.

I think my biggest (deeply unlikely) want is a parallel episode to Doomcoming--with the girls prepping for the end of summer/fall with another shindig. This time, they're very much in control and ready for The Rituals. Bonus points if it includes, instead of a cute lil' coming out dance, a Taivan Wilderness Wedding. Bonus BONUS points if, instead of hunting Travis-the-stag in a fit of madness (and letting him go), they hunt Ben-the-stag in a fit of sober fury (and have their first feast for the changing season). I think that's my wildest "yes please" hope, because I love parallels in my narratives, and because it would be genuinely the funniest thing to find out Taissa has been married twice this entire time, and her entire romantic life somehow a bigger mess than any of us thought possible.

[boycritter]

outside infinity

f(x) is continuous on the interval (-∞, ∞). Using the notation and definitions we have learned in class, describe what this means.

this means for every point c on the interval (-∞, ∞) lim(x->c) f(x) = f (c)

this means that f(x) is a smooth line

this means that f(x) is perfect, no pieces missing, no invisible walls hit

this means that all the way to infinity, as far as the human brain can possibly comprehend, f(x) is a truly incredible function

(i must be outside infinity)

i’ve hit countless of those invisible walls

chipped off so many pieces of myself

if f(x) is continuous on that entire interval

where does that leave me?

(i must be outside infinity)

infinity

the universe set

it is unfathomably huge

somehow it is so

so

so

small

because no matter how hard i try

i cannot make my way

inside infinity

[requiesticat]

Regarding the Strange Boy's canon name, Ozzy might be a shortened form of Ozymandias, which is the title of a poem about a cursed statue that induces despair in the travellers who look at it:

https://poets.org/poem/ozymandias

"I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed: And on the pedestal these words appear: ‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’ Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

[strangeduckpaper]

What do you mean he "died to finish [Enten]"?

It's phrasing like this that makes me think them swords have human souls in them and Enten has Kunishinge's.

[barcstravis]

rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead (1990) // boot theory, richard siken

[musings-of-a-crazed-musician]

why doesn't anyone care about art anymore. the music program at my college is dying much faster than i thought. they dont seem to care about the parts of humanity that are so frequently taken for granted.

do people not still hum to themselves? draw stick figures? do little dances when they're alone? are people so caught up in the disappointments of the world that they forget to enjoy it? enjoy beauty?

have we lost our conception of beauty? now that ai is taking all the arts from us we should appreciate the beaty of real art but we don't. we are so caught up in hating the things that are bad art but we don't appreciate the things that are good art.

and its killing the people that actually create it.

[good-beanswrites]

Finally finished my charts for the upcoming translyric projects I want to do and ough... these are going to be so much harder than my first two ;---;

[loveisfounddeepbelow]

Franny Choi, Introduction To Quantum Theory

[estrangedfiance]

it’s not my fault it’s more fun to listen to john lennon’s songs and interpret them as love poems

[mullets]

whenever people talk about richard siken's you are jeff it is always always about stanza/paragraph 24. the one that goes like you are in a car with a beautiful boy... and i think its very meaningful too but not enough people are transfixed on the beginning 6-7 stanzas which focus on two brothers. one who wants to take u apart and one who wants to put u back together. both jeff, both the same, both not the same, both hating each other for it. the one in the front is the older brother and not his mother's favourite and invents the monsters under their bed so that they can hold onto each other chest to back .... and idk its soo profound to me. inventing creatures bc u crave closeness, love that it is nearly animosity, you could love them both....... but dont pick one just yet.... i read a reddit thread abt how siken's poetry isnt meant to be taken apart at face value and sometimes its more about the feeling the poem elicits and i think w you are jeff its soo true esp the bit w the wrench spinning in the sky like a star !! oh man idk what im saying but u guys should give the poem a cheeky read. it changed my life