Words Per Mile

He stopped attentive, like a man who listens,

Because the eye could not conduct him far

Through the black air, and through the heavy fog

Son of Nyx has the distinction of being an instrumental song, with some barely audible lyrics (from Damage Gets Done and Abstract (Psychopomp)) in the background. Around this point on Dante and Virgil’s journey, they encounter the Furies, who summon Medusa, causing Virgil to instruct Dante to close his eyes. (In some mythologies, the actual son of Nyx—Aether—is the father of the furies.) This is a period of darkness and transition for Dante.

As said last time, the time spent in each circle of Hell gets longer from here on out. The sixth circle, heresy, takes up Cantos 9, 10, and 11. A thing to note about heretics in this text is that they are said not to believe in souls—they think the mortal body is the be-all-end-all, and that nothing persists after death. In a sense, that All Things End.

Of every malice that wins hate in Heaven,

⁠Injury is the end; and all such end

⁠Either by force or fraud afflicteth others.

While there may not be an end to souls in Inferno, actions have ends, and the end of hate is injury. Additionally, in Matthew 7:26, Jesus says that “everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand,” another line which is referenced in All Things End, with things either being scrawled in or built on sand. Heretics who do not put their faith in God are destined for everything they do have faith in to one day end and slip away from them.

This quote from Paradiso all harkens back to this idea of all things being temporary except God:

…Seeing that even cities have an end

All things of yours have their mortality,

Even as yourselves; but it is hidden in some

That a long while endure…

This is a dark section, so it’s interesting that Hozier takes a more optimistic perspective. He says that knowing that all things end shouldn’t stop us from persisting and, in the future, starting over. It reminds me of First Time, where he says that while something died with the relationship, something else new began. The song is an acceptance of ending, which in itself would be more positive than Dante’s Hell, but the repetition of the phrase “begin again” adds optimism as well.

Do you like the inclusion of the “begin again” motif? Do you think the song would be more impactful if it was simply an acceptance of endings? Let me know below.