The song I chose is “Let Her Go” by Passenger. I selected this song because it is very poetic and beautiful. It talks about love and human nature, how we notice something or someone’s importance once it’s gone from our life. The section of the song written below is repeated throughout the song five times, basically constituting the whole song. 

Well you only need the light when it’s burning low

Only miss the sun when it starts to snow

Only know you love her when you let her go

Only know you’ve been high when you’re feeling low

Only hate the road when you’re missing home

The first line says: “Well you only need the light when it’s burning low.” Meaning that when the light is shining bright and powerful, humans don’t really pay mind to it. They notice its presence, but not its importance. It is not until the light is burning low that people notice how much they actually need the light: once it is almost gone.

The second line says: “Only miss the sun when it starts to snow.” It makes me think of the change in season. I personally complain every time it’s too hot outside during the summer because I hate sweating. But when winter comes and the harsh snow starts to fall, I complain about the cold and miss how hot it use to be during the summer. This is exactly what the artist is reflecting in this song. I didn’t appreciate the sun when it was hot outside, but when the snow and the cold comes that’s when I miss it and wish for it to come back.

The third line says: “Only know you love her when you let her go.” In this line he shows the main idea of the entire song. Which is about a man not appreciating the love of a woman until he actually lets her go. This is very common in life because it reflects upon the idea that people don’t appreciate things until they’re gone. 

The fourth line says: “Only know you’ve been high when you’re feeling low.” It is not until the “high” is gone that the person realizes how low they actually are. Once the adrenaline and the excitement is gone, the person comes to the realization of how their life actually is without their “drug.” And the drug doesn’t necessarily have to be referring to illegal substances, sometimes people are drugs for us. 

The fifth line says: “Only hate the road when you’re missing home.” What I understood from this line is that people like the idea of being free which is often referred to as being “on the road.” This a person that doesn’t like staying in one place, they are not stable which can often connect to not having stability in a relationship. They don’t hate the road, they love it, but it is not until they miss home that they realize that they hate the road; they hate not having something stable. 

When thinking about the main idea of this song, which is about love and admiration toward a woman, the poem that we read in class that most resembles this idea was Lucy Poems by William Wordsworth. Both the song and the poem talks about the idea of losing someone as well as missing something after that thing is gone from our life.

I travell’d among unknown men 

In lands beyond the sea;

Nor, England! did I know till then

What love I bore to thee.

In this stanza he refers to visiting other places outside of England. It wasn’t until he was in these other places that he started to fully appreciate his homeland. This connects to the line from the song that says “Only hate the road when you’re missing home,” because they both didn’t appreciate home until they were not in it.

Towards the end of the poem he writes:

A slumber did my spirit seal;

 I had no human fears:

She seem’d a thing that could not feel 

The touch of earthly years.

This stanza is filled with unknown emotions, the poet says A slumber did my spirit seal; — I had no human fears.” Meaning that his feelings were numb because he lost Lucy and the pain of losing her made him act almost nonhuman because he lost someone so important to him. This overwhelming loss drained him from the ability to feel. This stanza connects to the concept of the song because it shows how both the poet and the singer are overwhelmed with emotions after losing someone they loved.

Some poetic devices in the song and the poem that I noticed was the use of repetition. William Wordsworth keeps repeating the word “she” all over the poem, while Passenger repeats the word “only” throughout the song. They both also use rhyme. Wordsworth uses an ABAB scheme for example in the first stanza mentioned above, he rhymes “men” with “then” and “sea” with “thee.” In the song Passenger uses an AABB rhyme scheme. He rhymes “low” with “snow” and “go” with “low.”

#love #lost #appreciation #women #feelings