Post #5 Metaphoric Criticism

In this post I will be analyzing Lennon and Maisy’s version of “That’s What’s Up” using metaphoric criticism.

The song was originally created and sung by Edward Sharp and The Magnetic Zeros but Lennon and Maisy have done a cover of it in their own fashion. The song uses many metaphors to glorify the love between a couple by using two objects that require each other to exist, implying that the lovers need one another to be complete.

Here are some of the explicit metaphors that compare a couple’s relationship:

  • “I’ll be the church, you be the steeple”
  • “I’ll be the sun, you be the shining”
  • “You be the clock, I’ll be the timing”
  • “You be the book, I’ll be the binding”
  • “You be the words, I’ll be the rhyming”
  • “You be the bird, I’ll be the feather”

Also, here are a few more explicit metaphors in the song that make comparisons about love:

  • “Love, it is a shelter”
  • “Love, it is a cause”
  • “Love, it is our honor”
  • “Love, it is our home”

Through these metaphors the couple (the “I” and “you”) and love is the tenor while the comparisons (church, steeple, sun, shining, etc.) are the vehicle. As I shortly described in the context, the vehicles need one another to exist. Without the shining the sun would be a totally different object and a book needs its binding to be a book. If you take one away than the other loses its full meaning, thus without one of the lovers than the relationship would also not have its full meaning. Love is used as a metaphor to show the gravity it has on people. It is where people are safe (shelter and home) and it is their reasoning behind doing what they do (cause).