Close Reading of Neutral Milk Hotel

“In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” has a typical song subject, blown into proportions that have never been explained in quite this way. The song is written in first person; a narrator explaining his infatuation with a beautiful woman named Anna (who is only mentioned once in the entire song). Each stanza seems to tell a different reason why he loves her. Odd words, phrases and rhyme aid the writer in claiming that his love for his beautiful Anna will not end even after they die and “meet on a cloud.” The writer suggests that the love of beautiful Anna gives him a comfort and security that nothing else could ever give him. The narrator just seems to be in want of Anna, not being able to have her, he seems to just be content loving her the rest of his life without love in return.

A theme repeated again and again is the importance of, the comfort of love to him, this is evident because the themes in each stanza written. He refers constantly on the theme of the sweetness of love on the first half of the stanza and on the second half how fast it can be gone. This form when broke down will show a pattern. For example the first, second and fifth stanzas all carry

The narrator in the first stanza explains how he cannot let the time tear his love of beautiful Anna apart. He compares this “beautiful face” and “beautiful dream” with a “flash on a screen.” How quickly he would lose it (his love for beautiful Anna). Then the narrator refers to how sweet love of Anna is and how he can’t let himself lose this love, because it comforts him. With the line “let me hold it close and keep it here with me,” which is a repetitive line throughout the song.

The second stanza continues the same pattern of explaining something in real life, for example “death.” “One day we will die,” the narrator refers to death as a bad thing, something that would try to end his love, and with continuing with his pattern he switches views to “but for now we are young,” as if he were saying “we’re young now, we don’t have to worry about death, yet.” The narrator then says the word “but,” which is a reoccurring theme throughout. By using the word “but” he makes lighter his line before. The narrator then expresses how now he can lay in the sun with her and count the beautiful things he sees. That is the “but,” just as before when he said in stanza one. The beautiful face but how quick it can be gone, he now repeats the same pattern by saying, yes we will die, but for now we are young. Then after finishing the stanza he refers back to his comfort of his loving to love beautiful Anna. The line is “In the arms of all im keeping here with

Some topics in this essay:
Aeroplane Sea”, beautiful anna, love beautiful, love beautiful anna, Milk Hotel, music beautiful anna, die “meet cloud”, “in aeroplane sea”, music beautiful, entire song, half stanza, comfort love, die “meet, ghost narrator, “meet cloud”, word “but”,