Song Analysis two: “Eleven, Seventeen” by Therefore I Am

Song Analysis 2: “Eleven, Seventeen” 

            Building from an introduction to an explanation in “Eleven, Seventeen,” Therefore I Am employs carbon-copy hyperbole, pestering personification and natural simile to elucidate that we are all similarly “born and bound to misery.” It is known that no two people are exactly the same, and therefore saying that “we are the same fragile frames” is in fact a hyperbole, but the point of saying this is to put it in the aspect that every person is made “of flesh and bone/of blood and teeth.” Thus, the use of this hyperbole is exercised to influence the understanding that the only real distinction is the “different names” that we “carry,” or our way of dealing with the “misery” in which we are “all born and bound to.” Though no two people can be exactly the same, Therefore I Am is attempting to show that we are all humans who go through the same “agony.”

            Engaged in “Eleven, Seventeen,” annoying personification begins as objectification when “the agony of the world grows in our bodies/like a painful pearl.” But, as the song continues, it “grows” into personification, depicting an “agony” that “we can not purge” that is “always changing its face with age.” This personification of the “agony” helps to define it, instead of using the concept of agony and putting a face on the “misery.” Defining the agony, which makes us so alike, helps to show just how it affects everyone in a similar way, which helps to get the point across.

            The natural simile exercised within “Eleven, Seventeen” shows how “the agony of the world” is “like a painful pearl” that “grows in our bodies.” In this example of simile, the speaker is explaining how natural, yet painful, the agony in which they speak of is. It is a common thing, and therefore explains why everyone feels it, creating a similarity between all. This agony even affects the speaker in that it “marks” their “mind,” and “presses down on” them, “like a fallen leaf left in fresh concrete.” Instead of creating an expression of an observation the speaker makes of everyone else, this personal message creates the feeling in the reader that the “agony” they feel is natural, and shared by everyone.

           

            Throughout “Eleven Seventeen,” the speaker builds from their introduction of how “misery” and “agony” affect them and make them feel lost and confused, creating the individual acceptance of the reader to his or her own feeling of “misery” as normal. Without this introduction, the speaker would create an outlook on the rest of the human race, instead of creating a mutual conclusion. The devices mentioned help the speaker to make the point that everyone feels this natural pain. Though people deal with this pain and suffering differently, it is what makes every human alike and therefore “the same fragile frames/ of flesh and bone/ of blood and teeth/ all born and bound to misery.” The speaker makes the point that every human, whether they are from The United States of America or Lithuania, are similar. This point brings the reader to further thoughts such as if we are so similar, why then, do we have so many altercations, from disagreements to wars?

Lyrics to Eleven, Seventeen :

Soon I Will Wake To Cavalcades Parading Through My Room
Flying Flags And Signs That Say

“fear And Confusion, This Haunting Conclusion,
Will Begin To Swallow Everything That You Are.
Just Don’t Think So Hard.”

We Are The Same Fragile Frames
Of Flesh And Bone
Of Blood And Teeth
All Born And Bound To Misery
We Are All The Same
We Just Carry Different Names

And The Agony Of The World Grows In Our Bodies
Like A Painful Pearl
And It We Can Not Purge
It Always Remains
It’s Always Changing It’s Face With Age

This Marks My Mind
It Presses Down On Me
It Marks My Mind
Like A Fallen Leaf Left In Fresh Concrete