I love this song so much. To me it has two parallel interpretations:
The first is about the "conquistadors" or explorers of a New World era (use of constellations to navigate), who go on an expedition to uncharted lands, where there are potential dangers. Their voyage is for the sake of scientific (geography, biological taxonomy etc.) findings, and resources. The motif of the night from which they come can be interpreted as an intellectual darkness that has no effect on them because their aim is to gather knowledge. The journey has great promise of treasure, that makes it worthwhile, but still it's risky and it puts great pressure on them (I even had thoughts of a country or empire that has run out of a resource and this expedition is their last hope). They know that not everybody will live to tell the tale, but the ones who do will be welcomed as heroes. The song is told from the viewpoint of one of the voyagers, who left his/her love at home, and misses him/her greatly.
The motif of the mother always reminds me of Queen Isabelle who was the reigning queen of Spain in the time of the Great Explorations. Like in the movie The fountain the soldiers pray to the Queen like if she was some kind of a diety.
At the end of the expedition only a few or only one man or woman remains who survived something violent during the expedition.
The journey is so long that after a while they only want to get out of the ship, because the constant view of the oceans and the small space drives them mad. Because of this there could even be a mutiny which would cause the fires that consume some of the ships.
I really love the motifs in this song I think they make it so epic (not internet epic but literature epic) and heroic.
The other interpretation only differs from this in that the voyage is to another planet or a distant star system, in the future. The motif of the night gains a new layer of meaning, as the darkness of space. The part where it says "but return like the martyrs of the sea and the spheres, up above, all of us" too gains additional meaning. The hellenic thinkers thought that the sky is a crystal sphere that contains the stars and is perfect and forever unchanged.
Everything else is pretty much the same with space instead of sea, and spaceship instead of normal ship.
This is one of my favourite songs because of the lyrics' complexness.
I love this song so much. To me it has two parallel interpretations: The first is about the "conquistadors" or explorers of a New World era (use of constellations to navigate), who go on an expedition to uncharted lands, where there are potential dangers. Their voyage is for the sake of scientific (geography, biological taxonomy etc.) findings, and resources. The motif of the night from which they come can be interpreted as an intellectual darkness that has no effect on them because their aim is to gather knowledge. The journey has great promise of treasure, that makes it worthwhile, but still it's risky and it puts great pressure on them (I even had thoughts of a country or empire that has run out of a resource and this expedition is their last hope). They know that not everybody will live to tell the tale, but the ones who do will be welcomed as heroes. The song is told from the viewpoint of one of the voyagers, who left his/her love at home, and misses him/her greatly. The motif of the mother always reminds me of Queen Isabelle who was the reigning queen of Spain in the time of the Great Explorations. Like in the movie The fountain the soldiers pray to the Queen like if she was some kind of a diety. At the end of the expedition only a few or only one man or woman remains who survived something violent during the expedition. The journey is so long that after a while they only want to get out of the ship, because the constant view of the oceans and the small space drives them mad. Because of this there could even be a mutiny which would cause the fires that consume some of the ships. I really love the motifs in this song I think they make it so epic (not internet epic but literature epic) and heroic. The other interpretation only differs from this in that the voyage is to another planet or a distant star system, in the future. The motif of the night gains a new layer of meaning, as the darkness of space. The part where it says "but return like the martyrs of the sea and the spheres, up above, all of us" too gains additional meaning. The hellenic thinkers thought that the sky is a crystal sphere that contains the stars and is perfect and forever unchanged. Everything else is pretty much the same with space instead of sea, and spaceship instead of normal ship. This is one of my favourite songs because of the lyrics' complexness.