A Sample Literary Analysis:

“All Too Well” (T. Swift, L. Rose); “The Camera of the Eye…” (P. Larkin).

The following topics are discussed on this page:

• Analysis of “All Too Well” (T. Swift, L. Rose)

• Analysis of “Poem” (“The camera of the eye…”, P. Larkin) –  will appear shortly 

• Comparative Study of the two works –  will appear shortly

“All Too Well” song lyrics (T. Swift, L. Rose; extended version)

–  A literary analysis with the Essay Engineering methodology, Part One (“Defining the Structuring Principle of Empirical Evidence, and thus Generating an Empirical Reality of Interior Meaning”)

Below is the original text of the song lyrics, along with analytical annotations in brackets. These rough annotations are the first stage of analysis, and demonstrate the essential skill of meaning reconstruction, i.e. the paraphrase; in other words, restating the meaning of a sentence using one’s own words only, and without repeating any words from the original text. (Words drawn directly from the original text can be noted in quotation marks either within the paraphrase or in parenthesis after the paraphrase; this will be seen below.)

Language is such a tricky thing, that the complexity of just a few dozen seemingly straightforward sentences is often far greater than one imagines – and, moreover, one often imagines that one has grasped the full depth and breadth of a sentence’s meaning, where this is not necessarily the case. Very often there is some significant meaning that is stated only obliquely, and is unrecognized by the reader. The meaning reconstruction (via the paraphrase) is the essential tool for overcoming this mistaken belief.

Part 1-A, sentence-level meaning reconstruction – i.e.making sense of empirical reality as the preliminary stage before identification of the structuring principle of reality.  

(N.B. the meaning reconstruction and analysis is most developed for Verse 1; for other sections of the lyrics, the meaning reconstruction and analysis are as yet rudimentary in nature.)

(Part 1-B, “the identification of the structuring principle of reality”, will appear shortly; as will Part Two, “transforming empirical reality to the higher signifying plane of the conceptual framework”.)

[Verse 1]

I walked through the door with you, the air was cold,

but somethin’ ’bout it felt like home somehow.

And I left my scarf there at your sister’s house,

and you've still got it in your drawer, even now.

[“cold” / “home” – ‘feeling’ is deceptive, false; bc home is never cold. – ambivalence of the unwelcoming and inhospitable “cold” air and her feeling the warmth of her natural place of being, where she belongs and is supposed to be (i.e. “home”).   –   it is possible to interpret “cold” as indicating only the season being late fall or winter; that, while the air temperature is cold, there is only warmth of emotion. The song lyrics are ambiguous here, especially in the word “somehow” that indicates the singer doesn’t quite understand what she is feeling, doesn’t entirely or exactly understand how or why it feels like home; and perhaps that is the point, perhaps the singer does not know whether the “cold” she felt was i) the winter air, ii) some ineffable element of the house, iii) some combination of the two. perhaps this is an expression of the singer’s emotional confusion.]

[subsequent elements of the song lyrics provide context (the reconciliation and connections of different thematic elements is treated in Part Two of the methodology); these subsequent elements support a thesis, of “cold” reflecting the fundamental ambivalence of the singer’s experience of the relationship: it is where she belongs and is supposed to be (“home”), but as well there is an unwelcoming, inhospitable quality to the relationship (the sense of “air” as manner or tendency, and not merely the temperature; the “air was cold”). And yet, this is consistent with the previous meaning reconstruction; that is, the lyrics can contain “an expression of the singer’s emotional confusion” (not knowing whether the “cold” is the winter air or an emotional element of the place), as well as “the fundamental ambivalence of the singer’s experience of the relationship” (emotionally cold, as well as emotionally warm like home)]

[the ‘you’ the singer addresses has something of the singer’s. – something taken , not returned; this is perhaps metaphor for her heart, but we must be careful, as this is largely speculative, meaning there is no indication in the lyrics that the scarf should be linked to the heart in particular; and yet, the scarf has as its interior meaning “something that is not returned” which is the essential form of the unreciprocated love that the singer experiences.]

[has she asked for the scarf back ? we don’t know. perhaps she knows the sister.]

[Verse 2]

Oh, your sweet disposition and my wide-eyed gaze,

we’re singin’ in the car, getting lost upstate.

Autumn leaves fallin’ down like pieces into place

and I can picture it after all these days.

[‘sweet’ good person, affectionate etc – “singin’ ” is joyful; “lost” might seem desirable, but it is not ultimately good; like intoxication; intense but not stable; – while certain positive elements are coming into a wholeness, as “pieces into place”, the relationship solidifying.]

[is he truly “sweet”? “wide-eyed” can mean either innocent or amazed. so the singer is either amazed at the genuine sweetness; or she is innocent and perhaps taken in by pretend sweetness; cf. Verse 4, “like you’re on a late-night show”]

[“I can picture it”: memory is vivid, as a visual representation]

[Pre-Chorus]

And I know it’s long gone, and

that magic’s not here no more.

And I might be okay, but I’m not fine at all.

Oh, oh, oh.

[the “magic” is gone – admitting the past is past – current state is not good]

[she “knows”, in the abstract sense of understanding that something is gone; but that is different from accepting something extraordinary (“the magic”) is gone.

[she’s not well (“not fine at all”). i.e. the being “okay” indicates that she has has recovered somewhat from the worst depths of grief, but she’s still not well, not fully recovered.]

[Chorus]

’Causе there we arе again on that little town street,

you almost ran the red ’cause you were lookin’ over at me.

Wind in my hair, I was there,

I remember it all too well.

[moment of his sincere affection for her; ‘wind’ – her hair blown about, not stable. turbulence, of her hair, but not the rest of her self ?]

[the chorus repeats this pivotal memory; of his looking at her; he was distracted by what he sees, presumably the “sweet disposition” of his affection for her that he so clearly conveys; thus a vulnerability of expression fondness; cf. fear later]

[Verse 3]

Photo album on the counter, your cheeks were turnin’ red,

you used to be a little kid with glasses in a twin-sized bed.

And your mother’s tellin’ stories ’bout you on the tee-ball team.

You taught me 'bout your past, thinkin’ your future was me.

And you were tossing me the car keys, “Fuck the patriarchy”

keychain on the ground, we were always skippin’ town.

And I was thinkin’ on the drive down, “Any time now,

he’s gonna say it’s love” – you never called it what it was

’til we were dead and gone and buried.

Check the pulse and come back swearin’ it's the same,

after three months in the grave.

And then you wondered where it went to as I reached for you,

but all I felt was shame and you held my lifeless frame.

[“your cheeks were turnin’ red” – he is embarrassed at the pictures of himself as a young boy – FQ of maturity and vulnerability, as linked to affection and sweetness.]

[sharing the past; he is thinking of their future together.]

[the keychain fell to the ground; why? his toss was off (we must infer, not explained why they fell, but this most likely), probably not over-shot; probably fell short, as metaphor for his own ability to be mature ? over-shooting would be wanting her too much and pushing too much; falling short would be his holding back.]

[why skipping town ? escape from reality, as “getting lost” ? Not able to live in real world, as immaturity ? cf. he keeps her as a “secret” ?]

[the “you” is revealed as a man – his dishonesty, that he never “called it what it was” until it was all over. – three months after end of relationship, claims nothing has changed – he pretends he doesn’t know what happened; cf. (“To him whom most I loved, I did my worst.” Laxdæla Saga acknowledges harm done); here, man pretending, as if to say: “i don’t know how that happened”

[death of self of singer; only emotion is ‘shame’; why shame ? shame to still need him or want him (“as i reached for you”) ? shame a result of his response to her desire for him ?]

[Pre-Chorus]

And I know it’s long gone and,

there was nothing else I could do.

And I forget about you long enough

to forget why I needed to [forget you ?].

[did she really forget ? evidently not. purely ironic ? Or some kind of oblivion, entire self gone?]

[Chorus]

’Cause there we are again in the middle of the night,

we’re dancin’ ’round the kitchen in the refrigerator light.

Down the stairs, I was there,

I remember it all too well.

And there we are again when nobody had to know,

you kept me like a secret, but I kept you like an oath.

Sacred prayer and we’d swear

to remember it all too well, yeah.

[remembering happy times – for him, she is a secret vs. for her, he is the subject of an oath; a “secret” implying that his relationship with the singer is something he is afraid of being known to others, for reasons unknown; perhaps simply an immaturity, that he is afraid to admit to the world a close, intimate relationship; cf. the “skipping town”, etc.]

[the mutual vow (“we’d swear” is half-true half-not; in moment of ‘swearing’ implication of ‘remembering’ as keeping love alive; as remembering the “prayer” or the “experience”? but of course in present-day of the lyrics, the “remembering” indicates what is past, gone, no more.]

[FQ: one person’s secret vs. another person’s oath; mutual vow]

[Bridge]

Well, maybe we got lost in translation, maybe I asked for too much.

But maybe this thing was a masterpiece ’til you tore it all up,

runnin’ scared, I was there,

I remember it all too well.

And you call me up again just to break me like a promise,

so casually cruel in the name of bein’ honest –

I'm a crumpled-up piece of paper lyin’ here

’cause I remember it all, all, all.

[the man is careless in contacting her; gratuitous, wanton hurt, “casually cruel”]

[he made a promise to her; not explicitly stated, nor is it explained in any indirect way what that promise was; most likely a promise of loyalty, of staying with the singer.]

[FQ: oath, vow, promise – loyalty and the medium of time.]

[FQ: wanton violence, destruction of good – “masterpiece” of their love, i.e. a great love; but is it true?; destruction as well of her entire being, apart from him]

[searching for causality: is it the singer’s fault? was she too demanding ? Or did he destroy what was true love ?, because of his fear. (“runnin’ scared”) – she answers that question with her assertion that “she remembers” , i.e. remembers his running away from their love, his fear of their love.]

[he pretended to be honest, but it was just cruelty; she remembers this too]

[FQ: his actions are function of his fear]

[“all” repeated three times – the magnitude of what she remembers; cf repetition at end of song. – weaving ? cf. Ger lit poem.]

[the ruin of the singer is the result of her memory; i.e. the memory of love will not die, though the love has died. that is the essence of grief over love lost.]

[Verse 4]

They say all’s well that ends well, but I’m in a new hell

every time you double-cross my mind.

You said if we had been closer in age, maybe it would’ve been fine,

and that made me want to die.

The idea you had of me, who was she?

a never-needy, ever-lovely jewel whose shine reflects on you.

Not weepin’ in a party bathroom,

some actress askin’ me what happened, you – 

that’s what happened, you.

You, who charmed my dad with self-effacing jokes,

sippin’ coffee like you’re on a late-night show.

But then he watched me watch the front door all night, willin’ you to come

and he said, “It’s supposed to be fun turning twenty-one.”

[ironicization of the ‘all’s well’, contrast to the ‘all’ that singer remmebers]

[he deceives her even in the present; bc of the past love.]

[pain of his implying it could have worked – but this is not possible. cf. “willin’ you”; she cannot will him to come through the door, she cannot will their ages to be different. the fixity of reality, what is ineluctable, intournable.]

[conjecture; no evidence for this in lyrics; but possible the age was just an excuse, and is not the real reason for his ending the relationship]

[FQ: after-the-fact – past; cf paralyzing.]

[what was the “old hell”? the very worst grief, most intense pain; it is “old” in that she has experienced the same grief over and over again; it is ‘new’ in its intensity that never fades, in its coming back again after a temporary reprieve; that it never becomes ‘old’ and past. cf. the inability to forget something, is a compulsive memory (the chorus “remember it all to well”]

[his conception of her: was a woman of unchanging perfection like a gem– to illuminate him, to bring him glory. – where the reality was her crying, as human being, of human frailty as all humans]

[FQ: the man’s conception, reductive, simplistic, immature; reality of emotions, frailty]

[‘what happened’ – this man. that explains it all. and it explains nothing.]

[he put on a performance for her father, “late-night show” – implication of putting on a show; insincere affection; cf. conjecture]

[contrasted with, her twenty-first birthday not fun bc of his absence – the singer’s will cannot change this. implication, perhaps, that she is otherwise strong willed enough to change reality]

[Verse 5]

Time won’t fly, it’s like I’m paralyzed by it.

I’d like to be my old self again, but I’m still tryin’ to find it,

after plaid shirt days and nights when you made me your own.

Now you mail back my things and I walk home alone.

But you keep my old scarf from that very first week,

’cause it reminds you of innocence and it smells like me.

You can’t get rid of it

’cause you remember it all too well, yeah.

[FQ: singer is stuck in which time ? time of the past love? or the time of after the love affair, and being forlorn? or both?]

[the “old self” is presumably the self from before the love affair.]

[singer is not her old self before the man, so stuck in time with the man ?; time is stuck, indicating singer cannot move forward in her life, despite time progressing; FQ: life vs. time]

[“plaid shirt days” is cryptic; perhaps wearing this shirt in the countryside, “upstate”, presumably upstate NY, away from New York City]

[“nights”, in bed they spent together, the “nights” of his taking possession of her; not just her body, her entire being]

[“mail back my things”, i.e. man is remote, will not show his face; perhaps lack of courage, cf. fear before. – and singer is alone. has nobody without him.]

[but he keeps something – he can’t get rid of, not the scarf in literal sense; but her “innocence”, her scent, what reminds him of her, – he cannot let go either; but it is a fragment, the scarf. she cannot let go of the ]

[it ‘reminds’ him, is only a weak recollection, contra “all to well” of singer’s true “remember” – to “remind someone of something” is minor, opposite “remember all to well”, with all certainty, imposing memory, major. – singer asserts, though, that “you remember it all too well”, indicating perhaps a bifurcation of the man’s psyche; part hiding the memory from himself by only allowing some dim reminder; part “remember[ing] all too well”, that is unacknowledged.]

[investigate further; what is nature of his post-relationship memory? what does it mean that he is only “reminded”? And why does he keep something to remind me? Is it something he is afraid of, that he cannot remember? something he is afraid of, he pretends it was not great, pretends it was something it was not?]

[scarf from the very first days they spent together (“first week”) – meaning his immature sense of relationship ? he can exist only the courtship phase, when he doesn’t know her well? cf. the man’s conception of her as an “ever-lovely jewel”; and he cannot exist in the mature phase of knowing an individual; is that what the “reminding” signifies, as distinct from the “remembering” ?]

[Chorus]

’Cause there we are again when I loved you so,

back before you lost the one real thing you've ever known.

It was rare, I was there,

I remember it all too well.

wind in my hair, you were there – 

you remember it all.

Down the stairs, you were there –

you remember it all.

It was rare, I was there,

I remember it all too well

[singer’s first direct declaration of the love she had for him – contra the dishonesty, fear of the man. – her daring assertion, she was “the one real thing you've ever known” – “rare’.  –  “You remember it all”, the ambivalent man; he has the scarf, that only “reminds” him, as minor matter, versus her assertion that in fact he has full knowledge of how ‘rare’ and great was their love, her assertion “You remember it all”]

[“i was there” – as proof of her testimony being accurate.]

[Verse 6]

And I was never good at tellin’ jokes, but the punch line goes

“I’ll get older, but your lovers stay my age”.

From when your Brooklyn broke my skin and bones,

I'm a soldier who's returning half her weight.

And did the twin flame bruise paint you blue?

Just between us, did the love affair maim you too?

’Cause in this city's barren cold,

I still remember the first fall of snow,

and how it glistened as it fell.

I remember it all too well.

[the “punch line” – a woman ages, just as a man does; but the man’s lovers will be always young. an essential difference in the experience of romance in women and men; what is the nature of the woman’s lovers? are they defined by their age, or by other qualities? obviously the “joke” is entirely ironical because there is nothing funny about this for the woman; but it is an absurdity of life, what cannot be changed, there is nothing to do about it.]

[who is Brooklyn ? a dog ? where he lived ?]

[oblique way of saying singer is ‘maimed’, permanently disfigured, not just injured; she asks if he too is thus.]

[“I’m a soldier who's returning half her weight.” a wasted figure, because of love. the “soldier” metaphor of course indicating love can be like warfare.]

[Outro]

Just between us, did the love affair maim you all too well?

Just between us, do you remember it all too well?

Just between us, I remember it (Just between us) all too well

[in this section, the singer’s recollection of her past, of this relationship (her “remembering”) is linked to the psychological disfiguring (“maimed”) the the relationship has caused her.]

Wind in my hair, I was there, I was there (I was there).

Down the stairs, I was there, I was there.

Sacred prayer, I was there, I was there.

It was rare, you remember it all too well.

Wind in my hair, I was there, I was there (Oh).

Down the stairs, I was there, I was there (I was there).

Sacred prayer, I was there, I was there.

It was rare, you remember it (All too well).

Wind in my hair, I was there, I was there.

Down the stairs, I was there, I was there.

Sacred prayer, I was there, I was there.

It was rare, you remember it.

Wind in my hair, I was there, I was there.

Down the stairs, I was there, I was there.

Sacred prayer, I was there, I was there.

It was rare, you remember it.

[fin]

“All Too Well” Analysis –  additional parts will appear shortly.

Part 1-B: identification of the structuring principle of reality.  

Part Two: Transforming Empirical Reality to the Higher Signifying Plane of the Conceptual Framework

Part Three: Comparative Study with Larkin’s “Poem” (“The Camera of the Eye…”).

“Poem” (“The camera of the eye…”) Analysis; and the Comparative Study of the two works –  will appear shortly.

Phillip Larkin. “Poem” (“The camera of the eye…”)

The camera of the eye

spools out twelve months; the memory 

spells underneath, how this was snow,

and this was drowned in heat, and this

derelict, among gulls.

And every tree has told

death of the drowsed year,

but none of you, or me,

aleaf, we, living still.  

A year of us. And true words cannot speak

except by accident stuck round the brain,

chucked from unfinished weeks,

(For days can grow 

softly from a stem, and glow, 

and fall at last behind a wall 

loosening their sweetness on the earth. 

The branch lifts up: 

and it is all as though they had not been.) 

And lives can choose a moment to be born, 

put forth their quickened leaves

under the light, and live; 

and they can draw some sweetness from the earth

before the month fall down

and bury them as though they had not been. 

(Words have no lips to kiss them back to life.

Words have no hands to hold their spilled sweetness.)