Re: Heroine death at end of TNW

[ut-emx!walt.cc.utexas.edu!erlkonig@cs.utexas.edu (Christopher North-Keys)]

Remember that Kate Bush has been said to find the more magical side of life
"fascinating", and has never (as far as I know) rejected the possibility of
such talents as empathy, projection, foreknowledge, etc.  With this in mind
as possible source material for the _TNW_, the interpretation subject to
the least ambiguity -- often the interpretation intended by the poet --
supports the survival of the heroine.  On the issue of poetry not having a
correct interpretion:  The correct interpretations will sit well with the
*entire* work, illuminating *all* of its components.  Such, at least, is
what I consider to be high poetry.

Quotes from:
	g: Kevin Gurney
	b: Steve Bloch

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g>1. Is she physically "falling like a stone"?  Couldn't have been a very
g>successful rescue if she is. How about emotionally "falling like a stone"?
g>Doesn't really fit with the rest of the song, does it?  What if she's
g>"falling" through this world into another?  That makes sense to me.

This [falling] expresses well the subjective descriptions of the spirit
falling back into the body after an out-of-body experience.  Such
experiences are thought to happen to those attempting escape from
especially harrowing events, perhaps causing death by abandonment.  This
fits nicely with her elder self's entreaty to her to *remain* in _JoL_,
rather than to simply leave her body to die.  This is also supported by her
visit to her loved in _WYWM_, but inability to touch him.

The lines:
        The light
        Begin (sic) to bleed,
        Begin to breathe,
        Begin to speak

sound to me like the rediscovery of what her body feels like, after having
been away for so long.  I believe the keyword here is "falling", not
"stone", *unless* perhaps she returns to her body to find it sinking like a
stone, and the verse is describing the swim back up to the surface.
It would be a nice double intent, if so.

------------------------------
g>3. The couplet "Being born again/Into the sweet morning fog" just sounds
g>too much like she's passed on to the next world. I can't think of any other
g>_plausible_ interpretation.

Death is often used as a metaphor for change, especially when associated
with trauma.  If an object/person is changed, the old *identity* is then
obsolete, null, or dead.  This metaphor is most clearly seen in the Tarot
deck card "Death" (usually a skeleton) the tarot card for change.  Hence,
this reads for me as a line of rebirth.  Someone said:

?> a completely consistent, natural way of describing her catharsis--the
?> epiphanous experience she has undergone through her traumatic night in the
?> water.

------------------------------
b>The ocean has been used as a metaphor for rebirth _within_this_life_
b>for thousands of years.

This is a good observation by Bloch.  My thoughts on the sea involved a
certain inevitable, overpowering quality -- certainly an auspicious place
for a person's being remade.

------------------------------
I personally have not yet decided whether or not she is rescued, although
I am curious about the helicopter, and the line "Get out of the water!".

I also wonder about the word "Murderer" in _Hello_Earth.  It this an
accusation of her as-yet unborn children?  Is it this that brings her
back?  (Does anyone have all this song written down?)

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