It's so refreshing to see genuine literary criticism. Generally, all I seem to see is, "singer x is gay." "band x is gay." "You're stupid." I was wondering for awhile where those who actually discussed the content of a song went. Obviously the answer is, well, right here.
As to the first few lines possibly being modelled after Poe's "The Raven", I honestly don't see it. As most good poets do, Popper seems to have simply borrowed and slightly modified a line. According to my reading of "The Raven", my argument for which I will not give in its entirety, the narrator was prone to fits of rage and actually killed Lenore. One strong piece of evidence for that reading is the frightened by the knock at the door, and it took awhile to build up the courage to answer it. When he finally did, what did he say? He whispered actually, "Lenore?" In black and white, we only know that Lenore is "lost", and it is not certain that she is dead, but from Poe's own essay about the poem, the name of which escapes me at the moment, he says, "there is nothing more beautiful than the death of a beautiful woman." Taking into account that Poe was one of the forefathers of detective fiction, and wrote about murder quite frequently in his prose, with further analysis it can be, but need not be concluded that "The Raven" is a poem about murder. Of course, Popper may have had a different interpretation of the poem, and may have concluded only that she died. If Popper read Poe's essay, then he may have been using "the death of a beautiful woman" in a more metaphoric sence, equating it only to the death of a beautiful relationship. In any case, this poem does not conjure up the idea of murder for me, but certainly like Poe's poem, it is well constructed and genuinely fascinating.
Regarding the rest of the song, I pretty much agree with your interpretation.
It's so refreshing to see genuine literary criticism. Generally, all I seem to see is, "singer x is gay." "band x is gay." "You're stupid." I was wondering for awhile where those who actually discussed the content of a song went. Obviously the answer is, well, right here.
As to the first few lines possibly being modelled after Poe's "The Raven", I honestly don't see it. As most good poets do, Popper seems to have simply borrowed and slightly modified a line. According to my reading of "The Raven", my argument for which I will not give in its entirety, the narrator was prone to fits of rage and actually killed Lenore. One strong piece of evidence for that reading is the frightened by the knock at the door, and it took awhile to build up the courage to answer it. When he finally did, what did he say? He whispered actually, "Lenore?" In black and white, we only know that Lenore is "lost", and it is not certain that she is dead, but from Poe's own essay about the poem, the name of which escapes me at the moment, he says, "there is nothing more beautiful than the death of a beautiful woman." Taking into account that Poe was one of the forefathers of detective fiction, and wrote about murder quite frequently in his prose, with further analysis it can be, but need not be concluded that "The Raven" is a poem about murder. Of course, Popper may have had a different interpretation of the poem, and may have concluded only that she died. If Popper read Poe's essay, then he may have been using "the death of a beautiful woman" in a more metaphoric sence, equating it only to the death of a beautiful relationship. In any case, this poem does not conjure up the idea of murder for me, but certainly like Poe's poem, it is well constructed and genuinely fascinating.
Regarding the rest of the song, I pretty much agree with your interpretation.