Based on my reading notes of Harry Martinson's Aniara. Given how much detail there is in the original poem, Seventh Wonder would really have needed at least a whole album to cover the entire plot, with all its secondary characters and other events that aren't mentioned here.
I: …And the Earth Wept
After years of nuclear warfare and ecological devastation, the Earth speaks in a motherly voice, forgiving humanity for its sins and urging it to move on to a better home.
III: Leaving Home
The narrator, known as Mimarobe in the poem, boards the colony ship Aniara to tend an AI called Mima. Many people are leaving Earth for other colonies throughout the solar system in order to give the planet time to heal.
IV: Take-Off
Aniara lifts off from Earth and begins its journey to Mars with 8000 refugees.
V: A Turn for the Worse
Aniara swerves to avoid the previously undiscovered Hondo asteroid, taking it so far off course that it can’t turn back toward Mars. It’s now pointed toward the constellation Lyra, which it will reach at subluminal speeds after thousands of years and the deaths of all its passengers.
VI: A New Balance
Six years after launch, the passengers “still feign dawn” in celebrations of Midsummer’s Eve in an effort to maintain a part of their old lives. Mima becomes their only guiding light and is worshipped as a god.
VII: Death of the Goddesses
Mima receives news from Earth that the refugees’ home city of Dorisburg has been destroyed and kills herself in grief. Frightened, the passengers rush to the Mimadrome and begin to panic.
VIII: The Age of Confusion: Despair
The passengers mourn for Mima, seeking for someone to blame but not realizing that they can only blame themselves.
IX: The Age of Confusion: Lust
Fertility cults arise throughout the ship as the passengers turn away from science and logic to carnal pleasures, believing that scientists are the cause of all their present griefs. In the poem, Mimarobe and others are imprisoned by a dictator named Chefone but is later released in a futile attempt to repair Mima. As mentioned in the next part, the passengers’ fixation on sexuality over reason caused their language to shift toward demonizing intellect while elevating words for sexual organs over anything else.
X: The Age of Confusion: Reason
The power of the fertility cults subsides and reason returns.
XI: The Aftermath
Mimarobe mourns for his home and Mima, who -- along with both God and Satan -- abandoned humanity to its fate.
XII: Dining on Ashes
Twenty years after launch, the passengers have finally begun to see the truth about themselves and their helpless situation.
XIII: The Curtain Falls
Mimarobe remains alive while the last of the refugees die.
You're welcome. I'd recommend reading the poem itself if you want more. It can be difficult with so many made-up words and complex imagery but definitely helpful in understanding the song.
You're welcome. I'd recommend reading the poem itself if you want more. It can be difficult with so many made-up words and complex imagery but definitely helpful in understanding the song.
Based on my reading notes of Harry Martinson's Aniara. Given how much detail there is in the original poem, Seventh Wonder would really have needed at least a whole album to cover the entire plot, with all its secondary characters and other events that aren't mentioned here.
I: …And the Earth Wept
After years of nuclear warfare and ecological devastation, the Earth speaks in a motherly voice, forgiving humanity for its sins and urging it to move on to a better home.
III: Leaving Home
The narrator, known as Mimarobe in the poem, boards the colony ship Aniara to tend an AI called Mima. Many people are leaving Earth for other colonies throughout the solar system in order to give the planet time to heal.
IV: Take-Off
Aniara lifts off from Earth and begins its journey to Mars with 8000 refugees.
V: A Turn for the Worse
Aniara swerves to avoid the previously undiscovered Hondo asteroid, taking it so far off course that it can’t turn back toward Mars. It’s now pointed toward the constellation Lyra, which it will reach at subluminal speeds after thousands of years and the deaths of all its passengers.
VI: A New Balance
Six years after launch, the passengers “still feign dawn” in celebrations of Midsummer’s Eve in an effort to maintain a part of their old lives. Mima becomes their only guiding light and is worshipped as a god.
VII: Death of the Goddesses
Mima receives news from Earth that the refugees’ home city of Dorisburg has been destroyed and kills herself in grief. Frightened, the passengers rush to the Mimadrome and begin to panic.
VIII: The Age of Confusion: Despair
The passengers mourn for Mima, seeking for someone to blame but not realizing that they can only blame themselves.
IX: The Age of Confusion: Lust
Fertility cults arise throughout the ship as the passengers turn away from science and logic to carnal pleasures, believing that scientists are the cause of all their present griefs. In the poem, Mimarobe and others are imprisoned by a dictator named Chefone but is later released in a futile attempt to repair Mima. As mentioned in the next part, the passengers’ fixation on sexuality over reason caused their language to shift toward demonizing intellect while elevating words for sexual organs over anything else.
X: The Age of Confusion: Reason
The power of the fertility cults subsides and reason returns.
XI: The Aftermath
Mimarobe mourns for his home and Mima, who -- along with both God and Satan -- abandoned humanity to its fate.
XII: Dining on Ashes
Twenty years after launch, the passengers have finally begun to see the truth about themselves and their helpless situation.
XIII: The Curtain Falls
Mimarobe remains alive while the last of the refugees die.
@theorykid Thank you very much for the write-up. It cleared a lot of confusion for me!
@theorykid Thank you very much for the write-up. It cleared a lot of confusion for me!
You're welcome. I'd recommend reading the poem itself if you want more. It can be difficult with so many made-up words and complex imagery but definitely helpful in understanding the song.
You're welcome. I'd recommend reading the poem itself if you want more. It can be difficult with so many made-up words and complex imagery but definitely helpful in understanding the song.
https://www.scribd.com/doc/238998252/Aniara
https://www.scribd.com/doc/238998252/Aniara