Songwriting, Poetry, and The Irishman Who Blurs The Line
by Ben Warren Flynn
“Take me to church
I’ll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
I’ll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife
Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you
my life.”
These lines from “Take Me to Church” by Irish folk singer-songwriter Andrew Hozier-Byrne are evocative and rich in symbolism. He pulls us into the terrifying reality of a gay man living in rural Catholic Ireland. Comparing his worship to a dog at the shrine of lies illustrates a sense of blind devotion and vulnerability; and the contrasting act of confessing sins to the sharpening of a knife suggests a ritualistic and sinister relationship between narrator and subject. Finally, a culminating plea for a “deathless death” as an offering is brutally intense, potently intertwining love, sacrifice, and spirituality. These words resonate as poetic expressions that transcend mere songwriting.
Can lyrics be a form of poetry? Oxford Languages defines poetry as a “literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm.” Lyrics certainly have characteristics of poetry: the creation of imagery through words, the use of rhyme, the expression and evoking of emotions, the storytelling voice, and plenty of symbolism. But would Justin Bieber’s “baby, baby, baby, oh” find its way into the venerable Norton Anthology of Poetry, which appeared first in the 1970 and is now in its sixth edition. The NAP has been seen as creating a literary canon: its inclusion of Bob Dylan’s song “Boots of Spanish Leather” was anthologized before he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016.
Lyrics are intended to be sung. Hence melody, rhythm, and harmony play a crucial role in their overall artistic experience by listeners. Song texts often have a broader and more diverse appeal, while poetry may have a smaller and more specialized readership. When comparing the poems of classical poets with the lyrics of today’s pop singers, the differences can be vague or drastic. In the rare case where lyrics closely resemble traditional poetry, the line between them may blur.
Andrew Hozier-Byrne, of Bray, County Wicklow (Ireland), has made a name for himself in mainstream music with his signature alternative-folk sound and eccentric vocals. One of his most noteworthy characteristics as a songwriter are his abilities as a wordsmith. Would his loyal fans agree to put his lyrics into the next edition of the Norton Anthology of Poetry and might he win the Nobel Prize in Literature sometime in the future?
The poetic quality of Hozier’s lyrics come from their critical commentary on significant issues such as religion, challenges of human connection, social justice, human rights, nature, and existentialism, as well as his use of evocative imagery, symbolism, metaphor, and economy of language. His breakthrough hit, “Take Me to Church,” is a powerful examination of organized religion and social issues. The introspective lyrics raise social consciousness through their distinctly poetic treatment.
Hozier has been influenced by Dante, Yeats, and another Nobel Prize-winning Irish poet, Seamus Heaney, celebrated for his deep connection to the Irish landscape and his ability to capture the essence of human experience. Heaney often drew inspiration from rural life, history, and mythology. His poems are marked by their lyricism, profound reflections, and keen observations of the natural world. While Heaney is primarily known as a poet, musicians like Hozier often find creativity in his verses. His work highlights the Irish tradition of storytelling and its deep connection with songs. Hozier’s ability to craft evocative narratives reflects that tradition. The blurring of lines between poetry and songwriting rests on the shared emphasis on narrative, emotion, and a deep connection to the cultural and natural landscape. Both Heaney and Hozier, each in their own way, exemplify this connection.
In an interview with radio presenter Zane Lowe, Hozier notes how Dante’s Inferno allowed him to understand how life moves in circles and contemplate how humans can persevere through social strive and struggles. His newest album, Unreal Unearth, chronicles recent years of personal and global loss, heartbreak, and isolation as a soul-searching odyssey through Dante’s notorious nine circles of hell and coming out the other side. Listeners will encounter a new song corresponding to each circle, for example, the rock track “Francesca,” inspired by Francesca da Rimini, who was condemned to the second circle in Dante’s poem for having an affair with her husband’s brother. Although he employs Dante’s original text as a writing device, Hozier’s ruminations on love, death, and life after death were born of very modern struggles. “It’s a way that I could process some of my personal experiences in that period of the pandemic and to credit walking through a very changing time, a very challenging time for me,” he says. “I think we all walked, individually, our own path through that pandemic, and we all found ourselves in very strange circumstances where things changed or we were confronted with things that weren’t working for us. We lost something, whatever it is, and we came out the other side.”
“My life was a storm, since I was born/ How could I fear any hurricane?”
– Hozier, “Francesca”
As listeners wade into the depths of Hozier’s psyche, they may discover Greek mythology in the soaring acoustic ballad “I, Carrion (Icarian),” which reimagines the myth of Icarus, who is so enchanted by the sun that he doesn’t notice it has melted his wings and brought forth his demise. The play-on-words title, ethereal poignancy of the lines, and astute application of intertextuality make this song stand out as a technically advanced piece of literature. “If the wind turns, if I hit a squall/ Allow the ground to find its brutal way to me.” In this powerful line, Hozier confronts life’s inevitable collisions and crashes by welcoming them. In another lyric, he captures, with extraordinary poetic skill, his weightless happiness which contradicts the emotional burden of the other: “You have me floatin’ like a feather on the sea/ While you’re as heavy as the world.”
So what’s the verdict? It remains open for debate whether or not lyrics and poetry are truly one and the same, or whether some artists, with gifted lyrical sensibilities, may find their way into the exclusive group of celebrated poets. Perhaps the two are to be kept separate, with lyrics treated as an honorable piece of literature in their own right.
Regardless of one’s stance, it is clear that the lyrics of some songwriters, such as Hozier, should be respected for the finely-tuned artistic expressions they are. He emerges as a unique case of someone able to weave poetic depth into mainstream music, tackling social issues with introspection and evocative language — not unlike Dylan, but with a different voice. In the world of mass-produced one-hit-wonders and AI-generated songs, Hozier has found a way to do something different, make a statement, and push the boundaries of literary genres.
“You don’t have to sing it right
– Hozier, “To Noise Making (Sing)”
Who could call you wrong?
You put your emptiness to melody
Your awful heart to song.”