Take Me To Church

The song I chose to analyze and defend as poetry is Hozier’s “Take Me To Church.” This song is Hozier’s poetic criticism of the church’s treatment of homosexuality as a sin.

The examples of this poetic language begin in the first verse which illustrates the theme of the song. The church’s view of homosexuality as a sin is illustrated in the line “we were born sick.“ This is contrasted by the previous lines: “Every Sunday's getting more bleak/A fresh poison each week,” which demonstrate that it not their sexuality, but rather the poison of the church that makes them sick. This criticism of the church is continued into the chorus and second verse with the lines “I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies” and “We've a lot of starving faithful.”

The lines “I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife/Offer me that deathless death” are clear examples of poetic and multidimensional language. The first line is a representation of confession. Instead of the cleansing it is supposed to bring, it ends in death. A sin is confessed with the understanding that it will no longer will be committed, causing the “deathless death” that the speaker experiences when he is unable to be with the person he loves.

The final verse ends:

There is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin
In the madness and soil of that sad earthly scene
Only then I am human
Only then I am clean
Oh. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Through these near final lines, the message is revealed that despite the church’s desire to prove otherwise, all sexualities are natural. This naturality is illustrated through the references to the soil and the earth, and concluded with the idea that this real love is what makes someone human.