Magrathean
worldbuilder
An interpretation i made some days ago:
This song expresses a duality between fear of death and longing for freedom. The narrator is scared of the nothingness of death (Everything i fear is in this failing) but also grimly aware that freedom only comes with it (A face of nothing to never see, as blind as free). At one point he even wonders whether there is something after death or not (What's to become of me?), but his position is mostly a skeptic one (A face of nothing; My negation; The art of reduction; To stop making sense; Nothing of what i am is in this end). This duality is dominated by the fear of dying (and an obvious wish to stay alive), but glances of realization that the freedom he seeks comes only with death are seen throughout the song. He wonders about what will happen after his death (Will you know my name?; Can you see my face?) and slowly comes to the conclusion that death is inevitable; in the first lines he is asking why everything must eventually die and wishing for life, but towards the end of the song he loses all hope (but not fear). All in all, it is a very powerful song about how a person copes with the knowledge of his own mortality.
Verse-by-verse analysis:
It's all this reeking ego craves
The sun to never set
All i ("this reeking ego") wish for is never to die ("this sun to never set")
Why do threads of anger never linger?
Why does the ember turn to stone
To where the longing goes
In with the sins of old?
Why does everything have to end/die ("threads of anger never linger"; "the ember turn(s) to stone")? The "longing" (hope) and "sins of old" (everything he did in his life) also "go to the stone" / "turn to stone" (die; stones are dead).
A face of nothing to never see
As blind as free
The "face of nothing" is the state of being dead; the narrator believes that death is nothingness. A dead person cannot see, thus the blindness; and here we see the first realization that the only way to be free is to be dead (in this case, because the "face of nothing" isn't tied to what it sees (i.e. the world) because it doesn't see anything).
Everything i want is in the end of this
Everything i need will be the end of me
Freedom ("everything i want") is in death ("in the end of this") and ONLY in death ("everything i need will be the end of me"). By substituting the word 'everything' by the word 'all', we get "all i want" (indicating that he only wants freedom) and "all i need" (indicating that to get that freedom he only needs to die).
My negation
Since death is nothingness, death is negation of life, of what a person is.
Will you know my name?
Will i be remembered after my death? The narrator worries about his memory in other people's minds, which could be considered the only way of immortality; as long as one is remembered, it could be said that one has not died.
You sense the danger coming
For the first time, the narrator openly says that he senses that death is near, and this gives the whole song much more strength, for fear of death gets stronger the closer one is to death.
My negation
Can you see my face?
See "Will you know my name?".
What's to become of me?
This is the only time (not counting the repetition of this verse at the end of the song) when he wonders whether there might be something after death; "what's to become of me?" suggests that there are several possible fates for him (after he has died, since he knows he will soon die).
The art of reduction
Stripped down through what seems defendable
Scaled to bare revisions
The "art" of death is a process that "seems defendable" (disease, slow decay, etc, all of which are accompanied by "bare revisions" (medical revisions, for instance)). The verse "stripped down through what seems defendable" is shows the desperation/anguish of knowing that, even though it might look like one can fight and live some more, death will eventually win.
To stop making sense
As life makes sense to the narrator (at least more than death, since he is afraid of death and obviously doesn't understand it (thus the questioning of what will happen afterwards) but is perfectly content with life and doesn't question anything about it) and death is the end of life, death is the end of that sense.
Levelling pillars of towering fear
Again a show of how afraid ("pillars of towering fear") he is; see "Everything i fear is in this failing".
Rational instincts and insight to spare
Feelings ("instincts") and thoughts ("insight") aren't necessary anymore. The time to use them has ended, so he can now spare them.
End of falseness, end of grace
Death is the end of awful things ("end of falseness") but also of beautiful things ("end of grace"). Even though he is still afraid (as shown in the next two verses), he begins to accept death as something not-so-horrible, since it will also take away the negative parts of life.
Everything i fear is in--
In this failing
Here he is saying that the only thing he fears is death, which he sees as the failing of life ("this failing"). Concentrating all fear in a single thing (in this case, death) results in a monstrous amount of fear for that one thing (see "Levelling pillars of towering fear").
Nothing of what i am is in this end
Again, death as nothingness / the end of everything; after he has died, nothing of him will remain. Here we can see the ever-present duality again: the narrator at once fears the nothingness that is death and longs (in an understandably-grim way) to be free of what he was in his life (be it what he did, his status as a mortal human or the world he lived in).
My negation
Will you know my name?
You sense the danger coming
My negation
Can you see my face?
What's to become of me?
Will you know my name?
My negation
This song expresses a duality between fear of death and longing for freedom. The narrator is scared of the nothingness of death (Everything i fear is in this failing) but also grimly aware that freedom only comes with it (A face of nothing to never see, as blind as free). At one point he even wonders whether there is something after death or not (What's to become of me?), but his position is mostly a skeptic one (A face of nothing; My negation; The art of reduction; To stop making sense; Nothing of what i am is in this end). This duality is dominated by the fear of dying (and an obvious wish to stay alive), but glances of realization that the freedom he seeks comes only with death are seen throughout the song. He wonders about what will happen after his death (Will you know my name?; Can you see my face?) and slowly comes to the conclusion that death is inevitable; in the first lines he is asking why everything must eventually die and wishing for life, but towards the end of the song he loses all hope (but not fear). All in all, it is a very powerful song about how a person copes with the knowledge of his own mortality.
Verse-by-verse analysis:
It's all this reeking ego craves
The sun to never set
All i ("this reeking ego") wish for is never to die ("this sun to never set")
Why do threads of anger never linger?
Why does the ember turn to stone
To where the longing goes
In with the sins of old?
Why does everything have to end/die ("threads of anger never linger"; "the ember turn(s) to stone")? The "longing" (hope) and "sins of old" (everything he did in his life) also "go to the stone" / "turn to stone" (die; stones are dead).
A face of nothing to never see
As blind as free
The "face of nothing" is the state of being dead; the narrator believes that death is nothingness. A dead person cannot see, thus the blindness; and here we see the first realization that the only way to be free is to be dead (in this case, because the "face of nothing" isn't tied to what it sees (i.e. the world) because it doesn't see anything).
Everything i want is in the end of this
Everything i need will be the end of me
Freedom ("everything i want") is in death ("in the end of this") and ONLY in death ("everything i need will be the end of me"). By substituting the word 'everything' by the word 'all', we get "all i want" (indicating that he only wants freedom) and "all i need" (indicating that to get that freedom he only needs to die).
My negation
Since death is nothingness, death is negation of life, of what a person is.
Will you know my name?
Will i be remembered after my death? The narrator worries about his memory in other people's minds, which could be considered the only way of immortality; as long as one is remembered, it could be said that one has not died.
You sense the danger coming
For the first time, the narrator openly says that he senses that death is near, and this gives the whole song much more strength, for fear of death gets stronger the closer one is to death.
My negation
Can you see my face?
See "Will you know my name?".
What's to become of me?
This is the only time (not counting the repetition of this verse at the end of the song) when he wonders whether there might be something after death; "what's to become of me?" suggests that there are several possible fates for him (after he has died, since he knows he will soon die).
The art of reduction
Stripped down through what seems defendable
Scaled to bare revisions
The "art" of death is a process that "seems defendable" (disease, slow decay, etc, all of which are accompanied by "bare revisions" (medical revisions, for instance)). The verse "stripped down through what seems defendable" is shows the desperation/anguish of knowing that, even though it might look like one can fight and live some more, death will eventually win.
To stop making sense
As life makes sense to the narrator (at least more than death, since he is afraid of death and obviously doesn't understand it (thus the questioning of what will happen afterwards) but is perfectly content with life and doesn't question anything about it) and death is the end of life, death is the end of that sense.
Levelling pillars of towering fear
Again a show of how afraid ("pillars of towering fear") he is; see "Everything i fear is in this failing".
Rational instincts and insight to spare
Feelings ("instincts") and thoughts ("insight") aren't necessary anymore. The time to use them has ended, so he can now spare them.
End of falseness, end of grace
Death is the end of awful things ("end of falseness") but also of beautiful things ("end of grace"). Even though he is still afraid (as shown in the next two verses), he begins to accept death as something not-so-horrible, since it will also take away the negative parts of life.
Everything i fear is in--
In this failing
Here he is saying that the only thing he fears is death, which he sees as the failing of life ("this failing"). Concentrating all fear in a single thing (in this case, death) results in a monstrous amount of fear for that one thing (see "Levelling pillars of towering fear").
Nothing of what i am is in this end
Again, death as nothingness / the end of everything; after he has died, nothing of him will remain. Here we can see the ever-present duality again: the narrator at once fears the nothingness that is death and longs (in an understandably-grim way) to be free of what he was in his life (be it what he did, his status as a mortal human or the world he lived in).
My negation
Will you know my name?
You sense the danger coming
My negation
Can you see my face?
What's to become of me?
Will you know my name?
