12/01/2009
"A Rose for Emily" by The Zombies (deadline: 12/8, 12 p.m.)
In Today's class, we talked about Faulkner's famous short story "A Rose for Emily" (1931) , his presentation of the conflict between the North and the South, Miss Emily as a symbol of a bygone era, and the tragic decline of southern sensibility. The title "A Rose for Emily" indicates a chilvaric gesture toward a "lady," who is given a rose as a homage to her "ladyship." However, making her a "lady" (by her authoritative father and the traditional antebellum southern society) also cripples her for life. Her status as a "lady" brings about the tragic ending of the story.
Faulkner's story is so famous as to become an inspiration for a British music band "The Zombies." They adapted the story for their song, in which Miss Emily's fate is being lamented:
The summer is here at last
The sky is overcast
And no one brings a rose for Emily
She watches her flowers grow
While lovers come and go
To give each other roses from her tree
But not a rose for Emily...
Emily, can't you see
There's nothing you can do?
There's loving everywhere
But none for you...
Her roses are fading now
She keeps her pride somehow
That's all she has protecting her from pain
And as the years go by
She will grow old and die
The roses in her garden fade away
Not one left for her grave
Not a rose for Emily...
Emily, can't you see
There's nothing you can do?
There's loving everywhere
But none for you...
Her roses are fading now
She keeps her pride somehow
That's all she has protecting her from pain
And as the years go by
She will grow old and die
The roses in her garden fade away
Not one left for her grave
Not a rose for Emily...
Listen to the music. Do you think the music (and its lyrics) convey the similar feelings you have when you read the story itself? Desribe your feelings.
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34 comments:
For the lyrics, I would say YES.
As for the rhythm, a definite No is served.
First, the story with tragic ending is already getting miserable in the middle, so the rhythm is supposed to be, from my point of view, a bit creeping, gothic, depressing, or even horrified. Yet the rhythm of the song is quite active and relaxed, and I just can feel “sunshine” by listening to it. In brief, my feeling towards the song doesn’t match another one I have while reading the story.
About the lyrics, I would give them enough credits for they describe the story perfectly. Take a look of my favorite phrase:
Emily, can't you see
There's nothing you can do?
There's loving everywhere
But none for you...
In the story, there really isn’t much that Emily can do except just staying at home, going shopping sometimes, and setting up a painting course which doesn’t last long. While people out there enjoying their love matter with their boy or girlfriends and even having sexual relationship, all Emily can do is just sitting at home without being loved by someone. “None” of “love” could be given to her. She hangs out with Homer Barron for sometime; however, their relationship is in vain since Barron appears to be homosexual. Until Emily dies, she couldn’t get anything, especially love, from Barron except his dead body by poisoning him.
In the end of the story, Emily’s life simply fades away just as the roses in her garden do when they’re old. Like the last line of the lyrics said:
And as the years go by
She will grow old and die
The roses in her garden fade away
Not one left for her grave
Not a rose for Emily...
The song is very soft! It’s a little different from its lyric which is pretty sorrowful. I like this song .It croons in a beautiful way.
I think that the problem is her dad not Emily! The family education affect people the most. Her dad protected Emily so much that she couldn’t make a normal relationship like others. She couldn’t love or be loved in a right way. This was why everything would lead to a tragedy! In my opinion, the country people couldn’t escape the crime, either. They were accomplices! They made a hostile environment which made Emily no room to hide! She couldn’t resist the restriction so she just fell by the wayside!
We all like to gossip but we usually don’t think about the consequence! The author used this sad story to accuse the society! We should learn from this story, or the tragedy won’t stop.
Yes, I think that the lyric successfully translate Emily’s emotions. After hearing this song, I full of sigh for Emily’s miserable experience.
Emily who born in a noble family didn’t have much chooses to pursue the life which she wanted. She lived in a shadow behind her father. Her father made restriction on many suitors of Emily and drove them out of her sight. Nevertheless the situation didn’t change after her father’s death. She went out very little. It seemed like she has been haunted by her father’s soul forever. However, she finally married a person named Homer Barron but she found that he was a homosexual. She couldn’t bear this big shock, and killed him. Maybe she has influenced by her father. She wanted her husband to accompany with her until she died so she killed him and slept with the dead body for many years.
Emily’s whole life is pitiful. She can’t get the thing which she desire. Just like the lyrics say she can see those roses in the garden but she can’t do anything until those roses fade away.
Honestly, I have no feeling toward the music. However, the lyrics, in my opinion, does truly conveys the emotion of the woman in the story. Imagine a woman, raised up by his father, who died afterward, with strict rules that many things were forbiddened and was overprotected which made the her powerless to do things, even make any decisions or take care of herself. How is she able to carry on? The song does gives me the kind of feeling; feeling like dreary. And, she truly was fading after her father death even lost the privilege she used to have: not paying taxs. People no longer know how to help or even talk to her, I guess. A woman, without the ability to live on and had privilege no more; what else can she do? So desolated...
In my opinion, its lyrics convey the similar feelings when I read this story.
Through the music, it’s like that Emily tells her feelings to me. A person who lived lonely and she can only share her emotions to those roses. I think the melody of the chorus is a little bit weird. It gives me an abstract perception and it makes me associate with her lonely life with Mr. Homer’s corpse.
I really admire “The Zombies”, because they adapted the story for their song and in order to display affection to the reader.
The end of the story is a climax. When I read it, it made me get goose pimples. Because Emily belongs to the class of gentility, she cannot adapt herself in the new age. She is a miserable character; just like the lyrics say there is nothing she can do. There’s loving everywhere but none for her.
I think this music conveys some emotional feeling from the rose for Emily. Yes, it conveys the same feeling when I read this story. Emily is a symbol of the noble man which located in southern American.
In my opinion, Emily is an indulged girl and her father’s love makes her become poor of socialization. She also can not control her feeling about love. In the end of this story, we see the tragic of this indulged deed of her father. Emily can not accept the man who she falls in love with does not love her but love the man guys. She uses the worst trick to make this man leave by her side forever.
This story reflects many things in that era, such as the patriarchy of Emily’s father and the fading of noble in southern America.
My feeling about this story is that Emily is a pitiful woman in that world and she is the prey of that era. She just likes a fading rose in the world and goes away. Nobody will remember why she become so odd but they will discuss her story from generation to generation.
I think the music is too light to convey Emily's miserable life, but the lyric does.
I think the reason causes Emily's life is not only her father but also the trend in that society. Just like in "Roman Fever", parents let their daughter marry to the man who is richer or has more authority. I think it is the same to Emily's father. But I think Emily still try to escape it.
I really admire the author, William Faulkner. The last sentence is really the acme of the story. It did not clearly say who is the person sleep with the dead body, however we already know that it is Emily has iron-gray hair. It's really brilliant!
I think the song perfectly transforms the status that Emily was in. She was live in the most well-known family of that region, and she couldn’t do things freely. In fact, she was live in her father’s shadow, and that made her have to live like a lady. The lyrics tell a story of the elegant lady with a lonely mind. The power was already gone, but she was still a focus of every resident’s eyes. For keeping her pride, she could do nothing but keep going on her lady’s life. Though I don’t think the rhythm suits the sorrowful atmosphere of the song, it’s the lyrics make me feel sympathy for the lady’s tragedy.
I think the lyrics of this song is pretty sorrowful,but the music,however,is kind of cheerful. Personally,I think it's a little bit ironic in a way. But I like this song,and I think the music fits the lyrics well.I do think that it conveys the simlilar feelings that I have towards Emily.
The songs is telling that nobody really cares about Emily,and there's no love for her,either.
To me,I think that Emily's life was such a tragedy. She couldn't do things as she likes because of her family background and also her father. Emily always lived under her father's shadow. She still couldn't get out of it even when her father died,which made her a kind of twisted person.
She wanted to keep the only thing she had,which was why she killed Homer Barron. To Emily, only by killing him could she truly always have him around her.
I don't see Emily as a freak sleeping with a dead body. I'm actually feel sorry for her because of the life she had,making her a person like this,and eventually led to a tragedy.
this story is a little creepy,but this song doesn't show that kind of feeling.it sounds just a little sad.
Emily must have had great pressure.
his father died and nothing left to her.she hated her father more than love.but what strange is why she killed her lover and committed suicise.
by the way, the tone of this tone can't fully convey the feeling of this story.the song should be scary enough.
Very interesting, though the lyrics described very well, I wouldn’t find out that it’s a sad story if I only listened to the song. But I`m wondering, is it an ironic song so that the rhythm was made differently from the story? I think it must have some meaning in the song.
Because of the stress gave from the society and her father, poor Emily had to be a “lady” and couldn`t have the freedom to be with who she liked. Although she killed the man she liked, she ended up dying lonely and sick.
Some similar situation happens in the reality, too. Celebrities are often limited by the society and their status. I think it`s crucial and weird to have no private and freedom, but this is a common thing in nowadays.
The lyrics conveys almost the same feelings comparing to the story.
Such as"She watches her flowers grow while lovers come and go.",and "She keeps her pride somehow."; both lyrics match the plots of the story(Emily's father keeps her suitors away from her makes her so lonely; Emily secretly hides a lover beside her and makes him a everlasting companion.)
However, the music is quite relaxed and brisk.
If I haven't read the story, I might consider the song is conveying a sweet girl's longing for love.
But after listening to this song, an entirely different feeling grew from my heart.
At first, I thought it's a horrible thing that emily did, but maybe in Emily's world that keeping a dead man as a permanent companion is a sweetest thing and makes her life not so desperate.
What Emily did is no right or wrong, maybe it's just because she didn't get the chance to live a normal life as we do.
The lovely music conveys the hidden side of both Emily and the story which I didn't find out when the first time I read it.
If you have read "A Rose for Emily", you must think this song revealed the similar feelings when you read the story. Its lyrics totally told the whole story about Emily’s life.
“She watches her flowers grow
While lovers come and go
To give each other roses from her tree
But not a rose for Emily...
Emily, can't you see
There's nothing you can do?
There's loving everywhere
But none for you...”
This part is talking about how Emily’s father controlled her life. Some man wants to pursue Emily, but they all failed because of Emily’s father. Her father regards Emily as his treasure but he used wrong way to show his love. And Emily had nothing can do about this.
“Her roses are fading now
She keeps her pride somehow
That's all she has protecting her from pain
And as the years go by
She will grow old and die
The roses in her garden fade away
Not one left for her grave
Not a rose for Emily...”
Roses fade away just like Emily getting older and older. Only one thing she can do is to keep her pride, because pride is the only thing that she can hide her pain behind her mask.
The music convey the similar feelings when i read the story. When I read the story it have a feel that Emily is very helpnless. In the lyrics said Emily, can't you see There's nothing you can do?
There's loving everywhere But none for you...
it is very sorrow for her by his father's over propect.Emily become a very egocentrism no matter how the outside world change Emily just live in her own house and lives her own life. By the rhythm it have the same atmosphere as the story.
I think the song is perfectly interpreting the spirit of “the rose” for Emily. In my opinion, Emily was spending her life pursuing three kinds of roses. That is -- the love of rose, the kinship of rose and the highly expectation of rose. Unfortunately, she got none of them. She can’t marry the one she loved, she can’t live in the protective umbrella of her father, and she is such a freak in the sight of the town-people. There might only a rose for her; however, she didn’t expect that, the rose for her funeral.
Ironically, it is really a sad story, but this song plays like nursery thyme. Besides, it is really genius that the vocal use this cheerful tune to convey the town-people’s point of view. The gossip is so cruel but most people all like it. And how many gossips are there is real? We, town-people, and the narrator don’t know either, but we just like to talk about it (Emily).
I think the destiny of Emily is so pitiful and the lyrics of the song conveyed the feeling of Emily. In the lyrics “She keeps her pride somehow. That's all she has protecting her from pain.” is directly described the mood of Emily. She was an eminent noble but she lived under her father’s control. After her father’s death, Emily just couldn’t face the reality and armed herself with the pride. Also, due to her father’s prohibition of her love, Emily was uninitiated about how to love. As she knew that her lover was not loved her, the only thing she could do was let her lover accompanied with her forever. At first, I think Emily is a little sick. But after read all the contents, I think that Emily is a miserable person and I can understand the reason for all her behaviors.
I think the lyrics convey the similar feeling I have when reding the story. The story is immediately struck with sadness for unrequited love, lives unfulfilled, and opportunity lost, but I also filled with an unexplainable awe at the determination, and independent spirit that Emily shows in the story. I recognized that as sad as was Emily's tragic love for homer and her unthinkable action taken to keep her husband in her life.
The lyrics respond the Emily's feeling and miserable experiences. They make me feel sorrowful and sympathetic. But in the other hands, I consider the melody is different from the lyrics. It's very brisk that makes me feel relaxed.
I don’t like the rhythm the singer sings. In my opinion, it seems like a crown sings a song to make fun of somebody. Although the lyrics are written in a beautiful way which full of sadness, he sings it in a joyful way. Maybe he tries to convey an irony concepts, he wants to convey the numb feeling that Emily had toward life. There were things fading from life everyday, she knew it, she could feel it, but we couldn’t catch it. That kind of feeling brought her insecurity; she wanted to keep her dignity because that was the only thing she had.
I love the melody of this song. It is lively and its background music is a little creepy. So I think the song is similar with the story we read. Emily had been controled by her father for a long time and she was used to being restrained by her father even liked that. "And no one brings a rose for Emily", this lyrics show that Emily was lonely. Her father impeded a lot of persuaders and forbidded her to do many things. So she watches her flowers grow. While lovers come and go. After her father died, she finally found a guy she loved. But he cannot married her, she lost the chance if love again. And she was the main actor of people's discussion all the time. So her father constrained her to keep the dignity of thier family---"That's all she has protecting her from pain." So she killed her lover, Homer. In the end, she died naturally and people heid a funeral for her, even in the funeral, there was her farher's prtrait.
“There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.” －George Sand
Emily loved, but she wasn’t loved in return. Under the control of her father, she was isolated within the house as a “lady”. Even after the death of her father, she was still trapped in solitude. Somehow, I can identify with her in some ways. As I read the story, I can almost imagine how she must have found the silence so deafening sometimes that it drives her mad, and in fact, she did go mad. I can also imagine how she must have felt when no one hears her cries, and when she finally finds something delightful, there is no one to share it with. Her world is just herself and desolation. After listening to the song, I can even imagine how she must have sat by the window, watching the flowers bloom and fade, lovers come and go, and all the happiness outside, but have no part in anything as if she has been “dropped out” of the world. It makes me want to sit by her side, pat her hand gently, and tell her, “I understand.”
The song was made up by two elements, brisk rhythm and simple accompaniments, which were constantly used in nursery rhymes. The band chose the style of nursery rhymes to serve as a satirical contrast to Emily’s suffering.
“No one brings a rose for Emily,” “But not a rose for Emily,” and “Not one left for her grave” pointed out the alienation and isolation Emily felt in Faulkner’s story.
Furthermore, the band ingeniously combined the name of Faulkner’s story with their initial lyrics to create an atmosphere which perfectly fit the imagery of the story. They are so talented that they use the symbols of rose, spring and vitality, to arouse our interest and to be as an accommodation for the main characters. On the other hand, the roses might suggest Emily’s release from both her father’s patriarchal power and the constraints caused by the old antebellum southern society. “But not a rose for Emily” indicated that her desire for freedom and romance had finally corrupted.
Also, see the following lines:
Emily, can't you see
There's nothing you can do?
There's loving everywhere
But none for you...
We can grasp from the lyrics above that the huge gap between Emily and the residents was not plainly caused by herself. Likewise, we should not simply lay the blame on Emily’s father. Though her father had disciplined her in an over twisted and inhuman ways, he was unconsciously forced by the deep-rooted old antebellum southern values. They were not aware or were not willing to accept the reality that their age had already gone. Emily and her father never came to realize that their refusal to face the truth and alter their reactions to the new industrialized age would finally lead them to live such a miserable life until their deaths.
The song and the melody are simple, but are tasted bitter and sour. The band wants to convey the tragedy of Emily’s love. Her fantastic love is not realized. No one is willing to give a rose to Emily as a homage to the ladyship. Just like lyrics—To give each other roses from her tree/but not a rose for Emily.../There's nothing you can do?/There's loving everywhere/But none for you...
For me, it’s so sad and melancholy if there is nobody wanting to pursue me. Besides, I will feel unhappy and may be a lunatic if my father imprisons me in his own world as a bird in a cage. There is no freedom. I cannot fly leisurely and carefree. I am just like a “Zombie.” Nothing can save me, except the death. Only the death can restore my dignity. I can do what I want and what I think. Also I am not the guy that is oppressed by the reality. For Emily, she can do nothing. So she restores her love in a horrible way. She is not pure at all, not like a Zombie at all. It’s such a satire!
After I finsihed this story, I have a sympathy for Emily. She was not independent because of her father over protection.
In my opinion, the lyrics turly convey the similar feeling I have, but the music are not, it is because the "Rose For Emily" is a tragic story, but little bit soft, I prefer sentimental music go with the lyrics.
The song does not use too many instruments to compose the melody. Piano and violin make the song simple, soft, and brisk. The music and the singers give their pities on Emily and try to comfort her through the song. “The summer is here at last. The sky is overcast. And no one brings a rose for Emily…” These lyrics give me the similar feelings that Emily had been in the center of gossips and no one cared about her. Everyone in the town just wanted to talk about her affairs and made comments on her behaviors. However, they did not know how much Emily suffered from her father’s protection! Both the house she lived and the painting on the wall were symbols that restricted her to go outside to explore the world. She was locked up in the so-called “noble” identity and had no right to escape. If I were Emily, I would struggle for my freedom even the society did not support me at all. People will be merely flesh if they do not have any freedom to do anything, just like poor Emily.
Yes, to my opinion, the lyrics had trully show the spirit of the story.
One example like "There's loving everywhere But none for you..." is one of my favorite, it really deliever us the lament and sorrow of her mysery life.
Another one, "She keeps her pride, somehow That's all she has protecting her from pain" delievers the deepest helplessness she encountered.
And, last, "To give each other roses from her tree But not a rose for Emily..." Oh, I really want to sigh when I read this sentence.
The composer of the music and lyrics is so good, that use a repeated and simple music to convey the sorrow of Ms. Emily.
I think this song is coarse.But the lyric of the song is so proper to the article.
It's Emily's sorrow:lives in upper class;house arrest by her dad.Makes her seal in her own world.Althoght her father dead,she still does'nt want to walk to crowd.She is so afraid in her mind.
And then she meets Barron.She has good impression to him.But fortunately,she finds he is a homosexual.Not only kills him but also sleep with her.How pity she is.I think she mind is alredy crazy.The lyric that mention"The roses in her garden fade away
Not one left for her grave
" describes so well. I love two sentences very much.To sum up ,the lyric is not always contact with theme,but the automosphere is same.
I think the lyrics fully described Emily's feeling,but the rhythm does not match the atmosphere of this story.
Let's take my favorite part of the lyrics for example:
Emily, can't you see
There's nothing you can do?
There's loving everywhere
But none for you...
It clearly described that Emily can't do anything to against her father. She is well-protected by her father.There is no one can sucessfully win the love of Emily because her father's disagreement. That's why the lycrics said "There's loving everywhere.
But none for you..."
Though the lycrics match the imagination of the story, the rhythm is surprisily soft and peaceful.
Well, I think that the lyrics convey the similar feeling that I have.
Emily was over protected by her father.She couldn't contact other people outside her safe house by herself,so later she lost the social ability or social skills to connect with others.After her father died, that means she couldn't rely on her father anymore so she refuse to believe it and kept the coffin with her until other people took the coffin away to bury.Talking about her love story, she can not bear her lover to leave her so she decided to poison him,so that they can be together forever.
The lyrics
"Her roses are fading now
She keeps her pride somehow
That's all she has protecting her from pain
And as the years go by
She will grow old and die
The roses in her garden fade away
Not one left for her grave
Not a rose for Emily...
Emily, can't you see
There's nothing you can do?
There's loving everywhere
But none for you..."
In my point of view that means Emily was over protected so she
didn't know how to love someone or what love is; moreover she didn't konw how to make a good relationship with people so in the end of the story or in the lyrics there is no rose for Emily. And "rose" means love.
The lyrics of this song convey the same feelings that I read this story. Emily lived in a noble family that cannot make her choose the life. She always lived in a shadow behind her father who protects Emily so much. She cannot escape from this kind of relationship so that she did not love and be loved by right way. I think Emily’s whole life is a tragedy. She can’t get the life which she wants. Just like the lyrics mention about Emily, can't you see. There is nothing you can do? There is loving everywhere. But none for you.
Well, and the music is soft and a little bit psychedelic, pretty match the "strange ghost story ".
Emily should obey many things like ancient Chinese woman. The story tell us the man always very important, she can’t live without her father and she can’t do anything without her father. The Chinese woman should be obey the three obediences and the four virtues , there are ancient time female’s behavior standards. I think Emily the same ancient Chinese woman.
Nice analysis Sophia
Dang bro rip, you definitely got an F for this assignment.
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