Being my favourite track on evermore, and one of Taylor’s best-written songs, I’ve been planning this analysis for a long time, and have finally decided to do it. Like some of her other songs, this story is part of the ‘unhappily ever after’ anthology of marriages gone bad. It follows a married woman, who I’ll refer to as Ivy, having an affair, and the fear of her husband discovering this.
“How’s one to know?
I’d meet you where the spirit meets the bones
In a faith-forgotten land
In from the snow
Your touch brought forth an incandescent glow
Tarnished but so grand”
With the first lines, the story sets the motif of death by mentioning ‘where the spirit meets the bone,’ referencing a cemetery, a phrase adopted from the 1997 poem “Compassion” by Miller Williams. By setting such a backdrop, it represents how lost and dead the romance with her husband is, like the ‘faith’ that is ‘forgotten.’ Because of this, Ivy’s affair brings her more joy and gives her things her husband cannot do, which is cleverly shown through an ‘incandescent glow.’ Incandescent means something that emits light after being heated. Metaphorically, it means passionate, or something full of emotion. This line simply refers to her lover’s slightest touch filling her with strong emotions, while also introducing the fire metaphor used throughout the song. When combined with the previous mention of coming ‘in from the snow,’ it shows that when they’re apart the heat is gone.
“And the old widow goes to the stone every day
But I don’t, I just sit there and wait
Grieving for the living”
The imagery of a widow visiting the gravestone of her deceased love every day symbolises the grief she has for her own life and the dead love between her and her husband. However, it says that she doesn’t and has nowhere to go to grieve her loss because she is mourning those who are still alive.
“Oh, goddamn
My pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand
Taking mine, but it’s been promised to another”
These lyrics allude to the nervousness and fear Ivy’s affair is taking from living this relationship since their actions aren’t right, and any moment they can be discovered by her husband. It shows that despite understanding and loving each other, they can’t be together. I find the “pain” mentioned in the first line of this quote interesting because it could easily be interpreted as the idea mentioned above of him understanding her pain and issues. However, it could also be a more literal and tangible object that represents pain – her engagement ring. Because of Taylor’s use of the cold being a metaphor for depression, perhaps Ivy’s pain and his freezing hand can be interpreted in the same manner, since despite the risks of their infidelity, they bring each other comfort and an escape for the narrator. Additionally,
“promise one’s hand” is a metaphor for getting engaged/married.
“Oh, I can’t
Stop you putting roots in my dreamland
My house of stone your ivy grows
And now I’m covered in you”
Being a fast-growing plant, that scales walls, ivy perfectly describes their forbidden relationship – just as ivy clings to stone, they both cling to one another. However, she’s already got a “house of stone,” (her marriage) and ivy loosens stone, and kills everything it grows on; while their affair is passionate, it’s what ‘kills’ her marriage. Furthermore, the idea of the plant not only affecting the external landscape of the house but also spreading to her internal ‘dreamland,’ shows that while she’s falling in love, he’s also changing her emotional state. This idea can be further explored if you view her house of stone as her soul – it could refer to her cold-hearted personality and unhappiness, until her secret lover arises and now she’s ‘covered’ in him, meaning he’s won her heart, leaving no space for her husband.
“I wish to know
The fatal flaw that makes you long to be
Magnificently cursed
He’s in the room
Your opal eyes are all I wish to see
He wants what’s only yours”
She refers to her illicit affair with the oxymoron of a ‘magnificent curse’ because while it makes them feel amazing, it’s also a curse, because of her betrothal to someone else and the challenges of their relationships. Ivy wonders what makes her lover want her despite the fact he can never fully be with her, since she is married. Because of this, she lacks any affection for her husband when she’s with him, and would rather be with her lover.
“Cover blooms in the fields
Spring breaks loose, the time is near
What would he do if he found us out?”
Once again using the symbolism of plants, with clovers, the meaning of their relationship is deepened with the idea of bringing good for each other, as clovers are considered to be lucky charms. It has also historically been a masculine symbol, suggesting that her lover is becoming more reckless. The idea of spring depicts new life, joy, and celebration; these ideas are also often juxtaposed with winter, which is a theme during the previous verse, mentioning “snow” and “freezing.” Her new love has transformed her winters into springs.
“Crescent moon, coast is clear
Spring breaks loose, but so does fear
He’s gonna burn this house to the ground”
I honestly love the moon, it’s one of my favourite things, and the many different interpretations one can get from a metaphor of it are beautiful. This specific lyric has two main different ways it can be viewed: the moon is a symbol for the unconscious mind since you can’t always see it, which can show that even though he’s always stuck inside Ivy’s head, she can protect her lover and their relationship by hiding it away in her thoughts. The moon can also symbolise life and death, since it’s a natural cycle, like moon phases. This might suggest that a new love was born out of the death of her marriage. While spring is used to describe their fresh and exciting relationship, this line could also relate to the Greek myth of Pandora; sculpted by god, she was a gift to humans, except she came bearing a box that the mortals were warned not to open. When they did, plagues, anger, and other ills leap free, with the only thing remaining in the box being hope.
“How’s one to know?
I’d live and die for moments that we stole
On begged and borrowed time
So tell me to run
Or dare to sit and watch what we’ll become
And drink my husband’s wine”
She sees their time together as “borrowed” and something they “stole”, showing that they’re moments she should’ve had with her husband. The idea of living and dying for these moments shows the fleeting, uncertain feelings, and her fear of the outcome, which is also shown in the previous verse. The tone also begins to shift in this verse, as there is less description, further emphasizing she’s becoming more vindicated, and is sealing her fate with the daunting realisation of the volatility of their affair.
“So yeah, it’s a fire
It’s a goddamn blaze in the dark
And you started it
You started it
So yeah, it’s a war
It’s the goddamn fight of my life
And you started it
You stared it”
She now sees their relationship as a ‘blaze,’ which could be representative of the warmth of their relationship, but can become uncontrollable in a matter of seconds. In the bridge, she holds him responsible for making her struggle to fight for their love. This is also the second time she mentions fire; at first, she says her husband is going to burn the house, but now it seems that in reality, she’s the one ‘burning’ the ‘house’ with her ‘blaze,’ i.e. she’s ruining her marriage with her affair. The fact that the blame is cast on both of them, starting with him, could give the idea that her husband ruined their relationship, so she destroyed it.
Thank you so much for reading, and like always, leave your thoughts below, I’d love to read them! I’m planning on posting a lot more in the next few weeks since I’ll be off school. I’ve finally decided to start planning my book and want to put more time into writing that, but I will still post often. Have an amazing day xx.
All my love,
Betty <33
Waited so long for this analysis, but it was completely worth the wait. It is very complete, I don’t have any ideas that you did not include. I rlly enjoyed reading this analysis ❣️ (the beast doesn’t get the beauty)
beautiful! i always look forward to your posts, they make me so happy🩷🩷