All Consuming Void (Roll Away Your Stone by Mumford & Sons)

Sigh No More - Mumford & Sons

Album Cover

Artist: Mumford & Sons
Song: Roll Away Your Stone
Album: Sigh No More
Label: Island Records/Glassnote Records
Year: 2009/2010
Genre: Folk Rock/Alternative/Pop


Song Selection/Research:

Two weeks ago, while exploring possible songs to continue this project with, this song popped into my head. So much so, I reviewed the lyrics and did some research before deciding to go in a different direction. Last week, again, I came back to this song and debated on the lines to utilize for the cabeza; but inevitably, I chose a different song. However, that did not stop me from actually beginning to compose a glosa around the lyrics to this song – but I’ll get into the a little later.

Research on the meaning of the song really only brings up other’s thoughts and opinions on the topic. Several sites speak toward the religious aspects of the poem and tend to note the excerpt, “stars hide your fires, these are my desires,” comes from Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

The selection of the cabeza was a tricky one. When I started composing the piece lying in bed late at night, I was gearing my thoughts towards the opening four lines. But upon reflection, when I finally decided this was going to be the next inspiration, the four lines that spoke to me were not those. So after a bit of debate and review of the lines I’d composed to that point, I decided to go with those lines.


Cabeza:

"And I have filled this void with things unreal
   And all the while my character it steals
      And darkness has a harsh term don’t you think
         And yet it dominates the things I see."


The Writing Process:

(02/03/2018)
I have been quite lackadaisical this week. While I thought about writing multiple times, I just could not motivate myself to do so. This, of course, is not unusual for me and ultimately why it took me so long – over a year – to bring myself back to this project in earnest. That said, today I finally took the six lines I had originally composed and reworked them to align with the cabeza.

Originally, having thought to use the first four lines of the song, I needed the sixth line to rhyme with mine. Yet in making the decision to use the four alternate lines, I had noticed that the fifth line already lent itself towards fitting as the sixth. The trick of course was adjusting the given lines or adding in an additional line. The revelation on how I was going to do that came to me earlier this week while driving. I repeated the words that came to me over and over again so as to remember them when I finally sat down to write, “cold, hard, unforgiving.”

This alteration of the additional line and the new cabeza led me in a slightly different direction than what I had originally worked out, so I removed two lines from the original and finished out the first stanza. I also decided to insert a word into the borrowed line in order for it to flow better. (I done similarly in my last glosa.)

That is as far as I made it, stanza number one. While it is not the first time I’ve taken a pause after writing only one stanza, this is the first time since I began this journaling of my process. Just an interesting side note.

(02/04/2018)
So, last night I worked out a couple of lines for the second stanza. Interesting, the first line (aside from the tenth) was line nine. That was followed by line six, then seven and eight. For some reason, I was stuck on the beginning – transitioning from the first stanza to the second. There was a part of me that felt like I needed to pull other ideas from the song itself; something I had done in previous glosas. It took some time to accept that I did not always need to do that. Anyway, last night while laying in bed I found my transition, which led me to completing the second stanza this morning.

Many thoughts have been running through my head with this block I seem to have. Thoughts that do not belong here in the middle of this journal entry, but maybe they’ll find their way into their own. In the meantime, I can say that part of me is wondering if there is too much of me in lines I chose, and if this is what is giving me such pause. Something to ponder, but hopefully not for too long as I still have two stanzas left to go.

(02/06/2018)
So yesterday went by wordless. As it is, this is the first time I’ve not finished on (or prior to) the Sunday of the week the cabeza was selected, but I mentioned earlier this one was giving me a bit of a run for my money. But alas, I was determined to finish it before today expired and (yay!) I have managed to do so. Feel a bit iffy on it, but that is not all that unusual with my writing.

So, what transpired with the final two stanza, you wonder. Well, number three found its way pretty easily (once my determination to finish it kicked in). Line six of each stanza maintain a particular feel of metaphor of sorts. The other thought I had intended to carry through was the start of line seven, which began the same in stanzas one and two, but I couldn’t help but deviate from it with stanza three and so followed stanza three’s lead in the final stanza.

Interesting with stanza four, it flowed similar stanza two. Line nine came first with the borrowed tenth. Then came line one, which I decided would start the same way stanza one started. Next came lines six through eight and finally two through five. For a few moments, I was stuck on line five, uncertain if I’d find the right fit. I definitely find it interesting to compose a bit out of order. It makes for a bit more of a puzzle, which my typically logical brain does enjoy.


The Finished Piece
(02/06/2018)

Again, I will be sharing the cabeza and opening stanza for this glosa. That said, here is the beginning of “All Consuming Void”.

"And I have filled this void with things unreal
   And all the while my character it steals
      And darkness has a harsh term don’t you think
         And yet it dominates the things I see."
                                               –Roll Away Your Stone
                                                 Mumford & Sons

There’s a stone blocking the entrance to my heart;
from where or whence it came, I do not know.
All I can say is each beat reverberates off
its cold, hard, unforgiving surface
sending vibrations throughout my entire body –
a form of electroshock therapy meant to heal,
but all it does is remind me of the gaping hole
lying smack dab in the middle of my chest.
I fear what such a truth might reveal
and, so, I have filled this void with things unreal.

…

…

…


Work Cited

Desimone, Elizabeth. “Mumford, Macbeth and the Long Walk Home.” Busted Halo, 25 March 2013, http://bustedhalo.com/features/mumford-macbeth-and-the-long-walk-home.

Dovey, Rachel. “Mumford & Sons: Sign No More.” Paste Magazine, 30 March 2010, https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2010/03/mumford-sons-sigh-no-more.html.

Mumford & Sons. “Roll Away Your Stone.” Sigh No More, Island Records, 2009.